Under The Cowl
by Knight Watcher
Summary: Batman is a symbol yet what happens when the man under the cowl steps down leaving Gotham to fend for herself until another for his own motives opts to take up the mantle. Crossover story.
1. Darkest Before Dawn

He could see her below him through the skylight. She is still alive for now. He could overhear the broadcast regarding her kidnapping and the fact the Vreelands agreed to pay the ransom demand. However the kidnappers as he could tell had no intention of honoring their side of the deal as one of them moves towards Bunny with a loaded gun. He had to stop them, for Bunny and Veronica. He knows he hurt Veronica years ago when they were dating because he did not believe that he could safely have a love life without endangering the woman by association. He had flings yet Veronica was one of those women who were different like Andrea, like Talia, like Kathy, but most of all or perhaps his lasting regret is Diana, she did not deserve the way he had been towards her. He kept barriers and walls yet she kept breaking them down so eventually she seem to stop bothering trying to get through to him and some would ask for awhile why he had been so open then so closed to a relationship with her.

She held a stubbornness to match his own, a determination to see things through like him, and of course after what happen a different night many years ago, he swore he could no longer be a part of Kent's global team aka the Justice League. He had already only been a part timer to start with...

... the gunman aims at Bunny yet something in a blur motion knocks the gun from his hand distracting his attention long enough for another much larger blur to smash into his jaw throwing him clear over the jet plane's wing. Another tries to jump him, he tosses this one into the guy carrying the ransom money bags. Both tumble over as the bills disperse through the air.

A sharp pain cause him to twinge for a moment, that sort of rapid move wouldn't have been much a strain at his physical peak or even a couple years ago for that matter. However he really is an old man now and he felt the years as he forces his legs to take him towards Bunny, the only thing that matters now is saving Bunny yet as he goes to untie her, she starts making noises through the gag on her mouth.

He had forgotten to be sure all three were out cold and his mistake got him a wrench to the skull, of course it hurt, but he had to get up yet as he goes to take him down the chest pain is back, only worse, the one thing that had got him through so much over the years.... heart...mind...will... but they could not wrestle a weary body or in this case stop a heart attack.

He falls down, it felt like dying, every beat louder than the last, his vision blurring, it felt like failure, he could not let her die, but he just might die first then the world would know who had been under the cowl all these years. Unless those who he kept his distance from for decades would cross the divide to shield his passing from everyone outside his unspoken limited circle of friends and loved ones. His only hope is that they remember him for what he stood for, not how he did wrong by them in their minds.

He recalls the words of a certain poet that once said something to the effect that one not mistake sadness for coldness.

It is true that it made him sad to tell them to leave, to tell them to quit the costumes, but it would be sadder by far should they die by continuing to work with him, they deserve more than that even though it feels worthwhile and meaningful to be a part of his one night at a time effort to help who they can, when they can in Gotham.

His memories flash before him except in reverse order, which is curious because some used to say it happens from start to last.

[+++]

_The most recent is visiting Alfred in the best affordable hospital for the old butler's time is running out and for the man that Bruce always saw as a surrogate father after his own parents' death, it had been the least he could do, and even then the old butler still tries to implore him to reconcile with Diana before its too late though somehow Bruce believes too late had come and gone long ago. He had not forgotten her, who forgets a woman like Diana, but of course she went on without him as did the Justice League. The League continues to operate out of the Metro Tower and it remains a symbol that not even costumes are above the people that believe or distrust them.  
_

_Kent or rather Kal remains the public face of the League. Lois ages gracefully at his side. He had made it work somehow yet Bruce's notions about why he could never have a relationship that meant anything is that could easily end in disaster especially if it was connected to the League. He had been visually proven wrong by the relationships of Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance. The two were married and had twins, in time they could possibly become the next Arrow and Canary or something along those lines. As for Vic and Helena that had come almost out of nowhere yet they made it work too.  
_

_John and Shayera did eventually mend after Mari laid it on the line for him to decide between her and Shayera. She broke with him on amicable terms and eventually starts dating Gregory Sanders aka Vigilante. Relationships lack a singular definitive description yet like some had periodically told him when you meet your match in a woman, she's not likely to back down especially if she is as stubborn as you. They had been right about her, about Diana, yet she eventually could not outdo him, when he told everyone to distance themselves from him, they did as they were told because most know when he makes up his mind, only he can change it, he had again become a costume workaholic._

_Diana kept at him for years yet eventually as he already knows now, she had given up or simply seen now is still not the time or something like that...  
_

_... she once fearlessly said to him... mortal or immortal... my heart loves only you.  
_

_If tonight in this hangar is the last... all he can think is the way I am consumes me yet something forever burns in me. He remembers the night he heard her sing Fever for the first time and of course he did burn for her though he kept it to himself until she had chosen to given him a private show of it. All the heart racing and intense moments flood his thoughts yet the strongest is among them are the first kiss, the first time they made love, and the last time he told her to forget him, to leave before death claims either one of them.  
_

_He had made mistakes before and of course this one he had to live with like all the others except every time she made the news, he read it or saw it, and she kept a bravado through it all. Some of the other Founders would complain to him that he made the biggest mistake of his life, he had known it, but what he could never work out was how to fix it without ensuring he would not do it again._

[+++]

_Dick was the last holdout yet even he had grown tired of doing the gig and so sent the costume back to Bruce anonymously after mailing a rather lengthy letter telling his 'father' that eventually some of us just outgrow it, but he also writes wondering if Bruce would ever outgrow it or move beyond it. It would take more then anyone knew or believed necessary to make him stop it. Dick went on to become a lawyer and now struggles with being a public face in Bludhaven's legal system. He remembers the night Dick quit being Robin, and of course Grayson had known how to put him in his place when he felt Bruce is doing the wrong thing except one could never treat what the Joker is up to lightly._

_Before that is when Barbara had become a part of the GCPD after completing the academy training yet her years as Batgirl had given her a physical edge over other candidates and her mind is as ever. He admits he had genuine affection for her aside from the fact that they mostly kept the thing between themselves. She gave up the costume more amicably then the others. She seems likely to follow in her father's footsteps since the older Gordon is not far from retirement. Jim was always a source of inspiration for him because Gordon could be the public face of Gotham's resistance to the criminality whereas Batman had to stick to the shadows. Gordon had been a faithful mainstay like Alfred and for all the years of an unspoken partnership, he would be forever grateful to Jim for more than just that._

[+++]

_The most haunting flashback is the search for Tim after his disappearance on patrol. He hardly ate or slept unless Alfred or Barbara made him for even his body had limits back then. Almost a month passes with no signs, they went through everyone in the chain, and the only lead comes with an invite to a certain rooftop. One of his worst fears made manifest is seeing the jack-in-box, the jack wears Tim's costume, the head piece pops apart along a pin from the grenade. He and Barbara hastily fall back though it turns out the jack is a joke, the real clue is the straitjacket, it meant Arkham is where Joker took Tim. They return to the Batmobile and he floors it for Arkham. He drove almost in silence and Barbara opposite him kept mumbling we'll get him back... they'll pay for whatever they did to him.  
_

_He smashes through the gates throwing them clear off their aging hinges, it begins to rain heavily, and like with the gates, Batman sharply kicks the front doors. A newer facility is already underway for occupancy and operation upstate so it left this one to mothballs, which made it ideal for Joker had he thought of this in the first place, they might have gotten to him sooner. No time for hindsight and so they move in further. It is as quiet as a tomb until they hear Harley humming and it is sickening to hear a usually innocuous nursery rhyme being sung by her of all people. He continues by the ground level into the operating theater and Batgirl heads up the curving stairway that will place her in the balcony overlooking the OT._

_He slams open the doors to the OT and is met by Harley at a table set for dinner._

_"Puddin' we got visitors!"_

_"Ah, Bats welcome to our humble abode!"_

_He seizes the Joker by the very threads of the Clown's typical purple suit jacket._

_ "Where is Robin?"_

_ "Robin? There's no Robin here... oh, you must mean J.J."_

_ He shoves Joker and advances towards the dark blue curtains that Joker and Harley had been looking towards._

_ She fires the bazooka, which unloads an instantly binding red ribbon fabric around him as he falls to the floor._

_ "You see we have been doing this merry little dance forever now... and we both aren't getting any younger... so Harl and I decided to add a Joker Junior to our merry company..."_

_ "Rather then go through the joys of childbirth... we decided to adopt..."_

_ "Then I remembered you always have a spare kid around somewhere..."_

_ The curtains part revealing Tim in Joker-esque costume and worse he looks like Joker at least cosmetically. Tim or rather J.J. as Harley calls him now steps down after getting the release from the vertical operating table. The Joker like laugh from that mouth is all it takes for him to burst out of the binds then Joker gestures at him, he throws the retractable blade, which embeds itself in the wall after tearing through the curtain. Joker hops onto the table after resetting it to horizontal then speeds away on it with Batman in pursuit on foot._

_ Harley looks on in amusement and glee until noticing what J.J. is staring at an enraged Batgirl descending on her. Batman... Bruce... knows Batgirl... Barbara will give Harley hell for this. Joker uses the bed like a fulcrum to get himself over the fake wall that Batman just smashes through and then heads up the stairs on Joker's tail. Once up there a projector flickers on and then he is given the full dose of what happen to Tim in the past three weeks, the psychopath had been filming the whole thing._

_ He hears the Joker's words yet his attention is drawn too heavily on what he is seeing on the screen._

_ "... I peeled back the layers..."_

_ His demeanor hidden from the Joker's sight lines does not mean the psychopath does not know what is likely to be on his face._

_ '.... serums and shocks..."_

_ The slits tilt upward ever so slowly and his lips twitch into a sign of vengeance._

_ "... shared such secrets... "_

_ He is slow to turnabout._

_ "... anticlimactic... like a kid who peeks at holiday presents... just a boy crying for mommy and daddy... I'd laugh if it weren't so pathetic..."_

_ He finishes the turn then lunges through the air._

_ "... What the heck... I'll laugh anyway..."_

_ As the Joker laughs yet for once the laugh seems to have no effect on him except to make him angrier perhaps. His gloved fists connect and Joker stumbles around tripping over the projector._

_ "... if you didn't like that... I have got slides... heheh."_

_ He throws him over the balcony and the clown bounces somewhat on the way down then he leaps over after him. The Joker's defiance remains on the clown's face even with blood streaming from his mouth._

_ "I'll rip you in two..."_

_ Many profess fear of the Bat glare, but few ever live to spread the word about the other glare, the Joker's glare._

_ "If you had the guts for that kind of fun... you would have done it years ago... I on the other hand..."_

_ He stabs Batman first in the arm gripping his neck then after the grip is broken by the stab, he jabs Batman in the leg, and he falls over towards the floor. Joker hops down and begins to taunt his worn down nemesis more._

_ "It is over... the boy is mine... and the last sound you'll hear is our laughter..."_

_ He tosses the flag gun to J.J. and then holds Batman by the cowl before._

_ "... make Daddy proud."_

_ The flag pops out, the hands tremble, the aim is unsteady, and Joker orders again. The laugh is audible and Batman looks straight at his would be killer of a son._

_ "Tim..."_

_ J.J's/Tim's hands shake more... then there is a bang and the flag lodges itself in Joker's chest as the clown goes flying backwards. As he lands a far back crate, the clown got his literal exit punch line except all he can say is...._

_ "That's not funny... that's not..."_

_ Barbara comes back inside dripping wet from the rain and it seems likely to Batman that her fight with Harley did not end well for Harley either if the fact that she is carrying torn fabric from the wrist band of Harley's Harlequin costume is any indication. Tim collapses to the floor in tears and Barbara kneels next to him then takes him into her arms telling to cry it out. Batman... Bruce struggles to his feet and knows that their triumph is pyrrhic for them as what happen here tonight left unseen wounds and among the worst is made in Tim. It made him feel many things including the perverse notion that Joker really did have the last 'laugh'._

[+++]

_The memories continue to cascade each no less gripping then the last until it is the alleyway where he saw their murders. The mugger without flinching fires at Thomas and Martha Wayne. His father had made the effort to assuage the mugger by handing off his wallet despite the fact that he had been asking for wallets and the necklace he had just given Martha. He steps in the way and gets shot then the mugger tries to take the necklace except it breaks so he shoots her too. The onslaught leaves Bruce unable to move as the gun barrel still smokes from the bullet that had taken his mother and still he hears her sharp cry of his father's name just before she herself is shot._

_He is frozen in place yet the mugger does not shoot him, but the gun like their murders are the catalyst to his childhood's end. He has many happy and warming memories of his parents that is until the Crime Alley memory invades the reprieve given by the pleasant memories for he remembers everything in the moment. He recalls crying uncontrollably and babbling that he should have done something yet as his mind drags him back to the present moment there is a fear of death in him._

[+++]

He had been aware of this prospect from that night in Crime Alley and the night he first put on the cowl yet when facing the literal possibility of his own death, he remains stubborn, not just for himself, but for Bunny, he would not let her die tonight.

The third kidnapper, the one attacking him made the error of kicking him hard enough to roll him towards the one thing he swore he never use in a fight... a gun. His grip is solid yet his hand is trembling to keep steady, it is not fear that is messing with his mind, rather his nervous system is straining to relay the message to aim the weapon, and of course the technologically enhanced Batsuit is compensating for his body even in this state. His attacker recoils and steps back dropping the pipe. He mumbles something about not shooting him then flees only to be instantly in front of an entire police detachment sent to secure the hangar. He struggles to his knees and pulls himself up, he'll let the cops look after her, he had to get out of here, and they are about to enter the hangar as he stumbles out.

He pulls off the mask and the hand holding the gun trembles more so he drops it. Blood is still streaming from his lower lip, so they got a lucky punch in, but this is it, no more Batman. After getting a short distance, he summons the Batmobile and climbs inside then instructs the autopilot to take him back to the cave. There is an incoming message so he pulls the mask back on before answering it. It is Acting Commissioner Montoya, she had been Gordon's handpicked successor, and he had a working partnership with most of the detectives that had been with Gordon from the start except for Bullock aside from the occasional tenable situations. She is looking rather at ease and daresay happy about the successful rescue of Bunny Vreeland.

"We got her back Batman... it seems we still and Gotham still owes a continuing debt to you..."

"Glad to help... unh... I really need to get back to the cave..."

"Maybe you should go to a hospital... we found some of your blood at the scene.."

"So one of them manage to slug me... I still held them off..."

"The blood was also on the wrench..."

"I need to rest for awhile then I'll consult some doctors..."

"You aren't getting any younger so be careful Batman."

"No, I'm just a tired old man now..."

"Good night Batman... I'm sure the Vreelands will be thankful and note your assistance if they decide to grant any interviews later on."

The screen goes black and the Batmobile crosses the retractable gantry that connects the back road to the cave.

[+++]

He will have to get out of the suit yet it takes longer as he cannot strain himself with something as common as taking off the Batsuit. It is tedious yet necessarily slow process to extricate himself from the suit. Afterward he looks briefly at each suit before slotting the latest one's mask with the rest of it. He heads for the power box, which conceals the Batcave's light switches so he flips each one down. The rotating platform for the Batmobile goes dark, then the Batcomputer's external lights, and eventually the transparent suit storage area goes dark yet their outlines are still visible to him.

"Never again."

Bruce begins his ascent up the stairwell to the ground floor. As he climbs the stairwell, the old injury from that last fight with the Joker starts acting up gain, he takes the usual low dosage of pain killers to numb the discomfort, and wonders how long until a cane becomes necessary with this injury. He contemplates whether or not to call any of his former partners just for the sake of seeing them before too much time slips away on him again. He kept pictures of countless people despite having an eidetic memory though of course there is one person he'll never need pictures of she is all to present in his mind when little is going and from now on, his life is about to become more about what to do as only Bruce Wayne . His corporate/playboy identity had been a cover for decades and now it seems likely to become only partially his only identity in public.

Once out of the cave is a still further walk to the Master bedroom unless he elects to sleep on the couch, which he does because his limbs feel to heavy and his muscles feel too weak to push them too far right now. He cleans up his lip cut and bandages it before going to setup a sleeping space on the couch. He felt a slight chill so pulls the cover closer to him and not in so many years did he ever feel this physically useless and the last time it had driven to become Batman... the same drive that had brought him to this point. He seem of the mindset to curse old age yet getting older did not bother him much as he had been death for a shadow for almost all his life though obviously more so once donning the cowl. The phone and video uplink are literally a hobble away yet all he can do is just lie there half desiring to ring someone friendly, someone familiar and half refraining from moving anymore for the rest of the night until noting that is getting closer to dawn.

[+++]

**_"The kidnappers responsible for the abduction of debutante Bunny Vreeland were apprehended some time late last night by the GCPD after coordinating the recovery with Batman who had successfully subdued two and causing the third to flee the hangar. The three men are facing justifiably long sentences at Stonegate Penitentiary. Acting Commissioner Montoya makes a point of crediting most of the on-scene work to Batman yet also commends her own fellow officers for the handling of the case at large…."_**

The symbolism of Batman, the weight of the mantle, it is never for him, always for others, and so instead of an on-job death it is face to face with old age perhaps.

**_"…the Vreelands, specifically Veronica Vreeland publicly thanks the GCPD as well as paying immeasurable gratitude to the Dark Knight for saving her daughter."_**

_ I did only for you Veronica, a paltry way of trying to atone for my behavior._

**_"In other news, buyout mogul Derek Powers is not giving up his attempts to corner as many markets as he can in Gotham. His biggest target as usual is the perennial mainstay Wayne Enterprises yet Wayne, his corporate fellows, and WE Board of Directors remain in opposition of Powers."_**

_No news like bad news, you are a persistent weasel Powers, but somehow I can't outmatch you forever like old age, you are sly and devious._

There is an echo from the main hall specifically the front door, someone is knocking and Bruce lacking enough sleep feels almost too tired to bother answering it. He steadily and slowly edges towards the front door. Bruce slightly cracks it open to reveal Barbara, she ages well at least to him though in a slight way he misses the longer red hair, he acknowledges they had their time, albeit brief, both of them were not really in the right frame of mind at the time.

Barbara's gaze is steady and she brought him breakfast. They eat almost in silence until Barbara mentions her last conversation with Montoya about the raid to recover Bunny Vreeland.

"I know you felt like you did wrong by Veronica or any other number of women in your life, but those who did stay around, did stand up to you, took the issues with more of what you had given us in mind instead of what we had to do get inside in the first place... I for one don't regret it... it had a hard time for all of us..."

"I prefer not to speak of this..."

"Dammit Bruce, I'm trying to reach out here, I mean you look terrible though I'm sure you did look worse last night... I even spoke to Bunny... what she told me sounds awful lot like a heart attack... you went after her knowing your heart might give out... didn't you?"

"They were going to kill her and flee with the ransom money Barbara!"

"I'm sorry... I don't blame you for wanting to stop them... it just almost got you killed if not for him knocking you towards the gun..."

"It felt revolting to use it for reasons that are already understood between us... I left her for the cops... I simply sought to go home."

"You need to see some doctors and soon..."

"If you don't mind driving me to Gotham General this afternoon then we'll be going."

"Should I call in anyone?"

"I'm sure they are both busy..."

"I think they would like to know what is going on..."

"This stays between us..."

She helps him upstairs and then consults him about having one of the downstairs rooms put to use as a ground floor bedroom. She says she'll take care of that and leaves him to rest. She would tell the others, but of course they might be as lackluster about seeing him as hell bent as he had been to get them to give up the costumes and find public venues to help others.

Later at Gotham General, it is shown that he did indeed have a heart attack the night before and he effectively disguises what could have done it with something that sounds just as strenuous for an old heart. He'd be taking all sorts of meds for his heart from now on and his moods eventually lead to seclusion in the mansion yet he still had enough pull with his family's company. He remains COO of Wayne Enterprises yet the merger he had fought for years eventually transpires firmly driving a wedge for Powers to dominate the economics of Gotham in a way that nobody had done before. Gotham lessens its pace outward yet picks up pace through upwards so that before long it barely resembles the Gotham City of his psychologically shortened childhood yet plenty of mainstays are still out there including one that holds one of the greater emotional pains in his life, the Monarch.

His yearly visits to both the Monarch and the cemetery do not cease yet he often senses that someone is shadowing him. He retains a notion of who it is yet whoever it is... has taken up the subtlety of stealth well.

[+++]

The years continue to pass him by and still he endures, too stubborn to die is the usual line likewise many of his allies or rather friends would intermittently visit though he is usually not keen on company, maybe it is pride or maybe he prefers they remember him at his peak rather than what he has become, but the only ones that persist in regular appearances are Kent, Shayera, and her. Diana had for the lack of a better description picked up a few of his personality traits and he had taken a few of hers namely her ability to zip him through kisses.

[+++]

The headlights of several cycles are inbound and the one leading the chase is a young man with those imitation knock off Jokerz in pursuit. The man swerves to avoid hitting him and as the Jokerz dismount to surround them, the man stands shoulder to shoulder with him.

Their leader foolishly decides they can take them. His error is short lived as together they fend off the Jokerz and in one last move the leader tries to jump him only to find the cane grip connecting with his forehead. The Jokerz flee quickly and Bruce feels an old familiar strain in his heart.

The fight felt invigorating though with it is the reminder of his heart not being able to take that kind of strain. He pulls out the gate remote, and as it opens the young man shoulders his weight. As they advance along the walkway, Ace steps in front barking at the man.

"Easy boy, he's helping me inside."

Ace backs down as the man picks up the cane. They head inside and he tells him where to find the meds. He lapses into unconsciousness yet when he awakens, he does not see the man. He finds the clock is out of position meaning the man is downstairs, a place he should not be, and he sends him on his way yet once thing is certain this adolescent, this young man could fight yet he would not dare another young life in a costume. Bruce had what one could call an intuition that he would probably be seeing Terrence McGinnis again before long considering that his inquiries reveal that Warren McGinnis works for Wayne-Powers.

There is a saddening affirmation when he sees the holo-news broadcast about the 'gang' related murder of Warren McGinnis yet as they discover from his father's records, something sinister is going on at Wayne-Powers. However Bruce tells him to take the data to Commissioner Barbara Gordon instead of a Batman handling this.

As misfortune would have it, Powers and Fixx caught up with Terry before he could get to Gordon.

[+++]

"What is it boy?"

The grandfather clock is ajar so he hobbles down the spiraling stairwell for the second time this week, and notices the new Batsuit is missing.

* * *

A/N 1: I recall quite vividly the first time I saw Rebirth, the series premier of Batman Beyond, it left a lasting impression on my mind. There is certain disbelief, a chilling sadness to it yet at the end there is elation, a new hope.

A/N 2: There are several questions that also arise as to why Batman is working solo again and what has happen to his former partners or allies. It seems as if things went sour again with Dick, Barbara also left Batgirl behind to become a cop, and there is nothing on Tim until Return of the Joker. Arguably by far Joker is at his most sinister/sickening in RotJ on a psychological and visual level, need only look at the face or the eyes to see it.

A/N 3: Some speculations or possibilities on what happens between Bruce and the League (post-RotJ/pre-Rebirth) as well as what happen between him and Diana.

A/N 4: Most of this story revolves around what is seen and not seen during Rebirth, at least up until Terry 'borrows' the new Batsuit.

A/N 5: The narrative is mostly confined to Bruce's experiences/feelings/memories. Attempting a character bound perspective with this story.


	2. The Morning After

No amount of time could distance the pain because some scars or wounds never heal as the mind never allows one to forget what made that scar or wound. The day scarred into his memory began rather plain and uninteresting aside from that dime a dozen Jokerz on the monorail. The history of the monorail as he so aptly was told about as a child is that the original layout dates back to one of Gotham's darker periods and was built by Wayne Enterprises, which is part of another irony. The irony that is not really irony because its chief financier Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha were gunned down in what is now Gotham's dwindling historic district.

He would always be stuck with that looking over his shoulder feeling because of what happen a few years back yet today whether he had known it or not changes everything. Another dull yet trying day at Hamilton High is only given some solace by having Dana to take his mind off the fact that the faculty is not that fond of him with all the habits or quirks commonly known to all of them. He heads home, the word itself seem hollow as his parents had gone through a divorce, as for what led to it, he never really understood, maybe there is a wisdom to when you are older as his mother often said. His relationship with Dana had been his rock though of course his father being a working class guy he is holds fairly high standards for his first born son.

They bicker, he leaves, and Warren McGinnis' attention returns to a disc given to him by Harry Tully who did not look all that well the last time he saw him. He had point blank lied to Derek Powers about his encounter with Harry. He is wary of Powers, but Powers' scarred right hand man is even more intimidating. Warren never means to argue with Terry, but he would never hurt him, he wants him to do well as watching him struggle gives him no relief. He only hopes that when Terry finds his purpose, he'll do well, and show that he is unleashing his potential.

[+++]

The argument would be the last time they ever spoke because someone murders Warren McGinnis in his own apartment. Mary McGinnis had made her regular phone call to her former husband and got no answer so she went over after asking Dana to drop by to watch Matt for awhile. She takes one of the spare keys that Warren had given her so that despite their divorce, he still cares about her, and their sons cause them to at least recognize that they must put their own discomfort behind for the sake of the boys.

Something immediately seems wrong to her, it is too quiet for one, and the place looks like a mess between the graffiti and all the furniture damage. The biggest shock however is finding Warren's body in his tiny cramped den. She does not scream, her lips tremble, and tears begin to stream down her face. She struggles to call for the police and they are quick to arrive then cordon off the scene. There is no sign that Terry has been here except for his stuff in the guest bedroom and her heart weighs a little less when she sees him coming up the stairs.

The scene had gotten to him too as she wraps her arms around her son and he starts asking about his father. She tries to shield him from it except he gently pushes her aside then roughly plows through the cops standing at the den's door. She cries more when she hears his voice echo with anguish and anger. They return to the sitting room and stay there for awhile longer until the cops offer to drive them home and another officer would bring back Mary's car. He takes his stuff from the guest room yet notices there is an extra disc in his bag. He packs it in and follows his mother out away the scene.

[+++]

Mary is the first to go in yet Dana immediately senses something is wrong since Terry is suppose to be staying with his father this weekend. He hand signals her to come outside while Mary fumbles her way through telling Matt what happen to his father. Dana covers her mouth, cries as she leans against Terry, and Matt clamors over to his mother sobbing immediately at the word dead. Dana sniffles asking if she wants him to stay tonight though he waves her off knowing her father might get the wrong message from plus he and Mr. Tan are likely to never be on amicable terms.

Her father's view of Terry never kept her from being with him or dating him. She however concedes figuring the family needs him now. She kisses him on the cheek and departs with a slight smile while wiping her eyes so she could concentrate on getting home. Terry heads inside and gets a weak pummeling by Matt as he kind of might blame his older brother for Dad dying kind of deal. It is partially that and partially his frustration at not being able to help Dad.

[+++]

Matt eventually heads to bed too tired out by crying and grumbling about what happen tonight. Mary phones her boss asking for leave time, she had plenty, and she also loosely mentions Warren's death. She is cautionary of mentioning it as a murder. The on-scene detective said most of the evidence seems to point to a robbery gone bad yet the Jokerz were not in the habit of killing people. He plops down on the couch and she sits next to him resting her head against him.

She stays up awhile talking about Warren, how they met, how they fell in love, the joys of having her delightful sons with him, but of course nobody brings up the word divorce or death right now. His shirt is overly wet from her crying yet it does not matter he simply tells her it is okay to cry, just let it out, so she does, her son's compassion is never in doubt though his behavior is often questionable. She puts that aside for now because she needs him as much he needs her at this moment.

It is only awhile until morning by the time she falls asleep. He carries her to her bed and covers her up then kisses her on the forehead. He and Matt would both go to school today. The little twit might annoy him some times, but they are still brothers. Dana drives them both to school. Matt is of such a stoic face because he might not want them to see him crying especially not Dana. He kind of likes her yet he is too young perhaps to tell what she sees in his brother.

Matt walks off with slouched shoulders to the entrance of Dr. Thomas Wayne Elementary School and of course flickers of fighting along side the aged Bruce Wayne made the connection for him. His almost photographic memory led him to search the holo-archives on the address of the manor so he finds out he not only fought off Jokerz with the former Batman yet he also meet his alter ego reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne. He now had something to make him a little more in common with Wayne as both lost their fathers to murderers yet unlike Wayne he still has his mother. Terry's attention is redirected at the sound of Dana sighing as she commands the autopilot to drive them to Hamilton High Student Parking.

"He tries to put on such a brave face yet you can tell he is in a world of hurt… you all are… I don't have anything to say to ease the pain…"

"What counts is you are here for me, for my mom, and even my brother… we owe you Dana."

"Things we do for the ones we love are often the most trying and telling... I see that in you."

"Well we better get to class... don't want either of us getting into trouble today."

"See you at lunch Ter."

She kisses him deeply trying to show her affection and concern without saying it. He kisses her back with a similar touch to hers. They barely manage smiles before going off in separate directions for class. There is a slight surprise for the faculty with Terry awake and on time for the first time. Cafe time cannot seem to come fast enough plus he is hoping to avoid seeing Nelson altogether. The jock kept trying to egg him on and likely he would have something to say about the Jokerz doing even cosmetic damage to his car.

He makes a beeline for the cafeteria and finds Dana there, it made him sigh, at least he still had her, his mother, and even his little brother. The pain from his father's death is still fresh in mind yet he had some positives still with him. However as he sits down across from her, Nelson's arm snaps around his neck before the jock pulls him away from the table.

"Since I can't sock it to the Jokerz for my car dreg... I think I'll take it out on you."

"You seem unafraid at the prospect of detention or suspense...."

"I'll say you started it with your record they would be more likely to believe me."

"Give it up Nelson... leave him alone..."

"Your girl Dana gonna do the fighting for you?"

"I have had it with you... now let go!"

"Make me..."

In an unexpected movement Terry spins around tossing Nelson across the room leading him to crash into several cafe tables as well as breaking them with his weight. Terry smacks his forehead into his hand, he had just done what Nash had been trying to make him do from one angle, and for another everyone else is looking at him strangely as if they had never seem throw someone that easily. He could not explain it either yet he had to get away from the cafe now.

Dana hurries away with him to his next class and hopefully Nelson will ease off for awhile unless he decides to immediately pin it on Terry as soon as he regains consciousness. Dana however goes on her own to speak to some her faculty acquaintances who in listening to her story decide that if anyone is going to slam McGinnis today of all days, they would be shut out. Nelson got suspension for instigating the fight though he would only be out for a few days, maybe a week or longer depending on the final decision of the school board. It had been a minor victory and he is grateful to Dana for her support.

Matt is glad to be going home even though the funeral is set for this evening as their mother tells them. The police unofficially tell them it looks like someone went after him on purpose yet officially the news is spouting that the Jokerz are not below killing anymore.

It is a small private ceremony at Gotham Cemetery and Powers is on hand trying to be a sympathetic corporate man. The scarred man with Powers is keeping his distance yet something about him seems sinister if only by his expression. They head home because it is getting late and so he confesses in private to his mother what he had been boxing inside since the night before. She takes him in her arms and tells him to cry just as he told her to do in the early hours of this morning. She checks again on him later and finds he manages to get to sleep at last then she goes to check on Matt. He is sound asleep so she again taps on the alarm system and heads to bed herself knowing that being a single mother is going to be a whole new challenge yet she had come to rely on her sons as much as they had on her.

[+++]

His next encounter with Wayne is made because of the discovery on the disc his father hid in his backpack, the disc that led to his murder, and likely the death of Harry Tully as well. Dana drives him over and then departs knowing she had to get home before her dad flips out. The meeting had been brief and his attempt to get to Gordon is cut off by Powers as well as Fixx. He have to find another way and it mean 'borrowing' the Batsuit though he have to keep Wayne's faithful hound tied up in order to do it.

[+++]

There is a definite euphoria as he manages to take flight in the suit yet using the wings as well as the rockets built into the heels of the suit is tricky. He almost smashes into countless skyscrapers yet eventually gets the hang of it. He notes the built in microphones in the fingertips so he presses it against the window of what he sees as Powers' private office. Some political bigshot is here to buy the nerve gas no less yet eventually security spots him forcing him to drop off the side.

"Isn't a little early for Halloween?"

".. Just in time for Fall..."

It seem funny to him yet they made no laughs. One of them alerts the chief of security to his presence as well as Fixx. Minister Vilmos Egans is heading for the red eye back to Kasnia and the shipments of nerve gas are going out tonight from the North Hover Transport Docks. Security hounds him the entire way and then receiver in the cowl goes off though only he hears it. It is Wayne... probably furious about him taking the suit to say the least.

_"Where are you McGinnis?"_

"Wayne... where are you?"

_"There is an earpiece transmitter in the cowl... now you return what you took from my house."_

"I'm kind of busy dodging security at your company."

_"Get out of there and bring the suit back immediately."_

"Would love to, but weapons shipments to stop and this is too..."

_"... nothing about this line of work is fun..."_

"Doesn't mean you can't enjoy or take some satisfaction from it."

_"I'll say it again though my patience runs short when people don't comply... return the suit."_

The mission is not over in his mind until he nails Powers and Fixx except his refusal prompts an unexpected turn as the suit stops responding to his neural commands. The guards surround him and start to beat him up.

"You can't do this..."

_"I just did..."_

"They are going to kill me..."

The fear of death is certainly a motivator. He felt so sure that taking the suit in hindsight seems an idiotic move until suddenly it comes back to life.

_"Now you are going to take them down then get out and back here..."_

"The weapon shipments are leaving here tonight... I have to stop it."

_"I said come back with the suit... I'll press the failsafe again."_

"I read about your folks... you know we have something in common and my instincts are telling me I have to stop whatever Powers is up to as well as get my dad's killer."

_"It won't give you solace... believe me my parents' murders haunt me to this day."_

"It'll do something at least to save others' lives from this nerve gas."

_"Get to the broom closet far wall now..."_

He heads inside to hide yet the guards will check here before long. He follows Wayne's instructions and the wall rotates around placing him inside the adjoining space. He takes off for the Hover Pad Docks and just in time perhaps as the transport is almost fully loaded up. Powers however intercepts him shooting every batarang to pieces until he tosses a nerve gas canister at him and the mogul makes the error to fire so Terry or rather Batman rockets away as Powers begins to succumb to the poison he had made to advance his plans for an arms manufacturing branch of Wayne-Powers.

[+++]

He claws his way forward to the hatchway in the roof top of the hover transport and tosses the guards inside overboard. After getting inside he finds the ship on autopilot. Fixx smashes him into the windshield and he falls to the floor as Fixx advances on him again. Their grips lock and he manages to keep the electrical brass knuckles facing away from him yet Fixx forces him back into the pilot seat. His lip is bleeding yet he will not back down from this fight.

"You are pretty strong for some clown who thinks he is Batman!"

"I am BATMAN!"

He pushes the scarred Fixx back into the controls and he electrocutes himself causing the ship's navigation systems to fail and plummet the craft towards Gotham Bay. Terry takes off knowing this weapons' shipment will not reach its destination. As for what to do about Wayne and the Batsuit, it would have to wait, he wonders now how did Wayne do this sort of thing all the time yet given the ease at which he dealt with a bunch of imitation Jokerz it made sense that even as an old man Wayne remains a capable fighter if not for his physical condition.

He remembers implying to Wayne that he quit Batman for something more than simply getting too old for it. If Wayne even stays amicable after this then perhaps one day he might learn what happen yet for now he seeks only thing, to bed and to sleep it is rather late for him even though he had not slept much in the past week between trouble at school and redundant of thinking about what happen in the last three days or so.

[+++]

The following morning, the Batsuit remains tucked away under his mattress, not the ideal place to hide it, but he would have to get it back to Wayne somehow if only to uphold the promise. He rouses to the sound of his mother's voice going on about how Mr. Wayne is here.

"... you didn't mention that you knew Bruce Wayne!"

"Why I owe this young man my life... he saved me from a bunch of hooligans once..."

Terry eyes Bruce suspiciously knowing quite well that Wayne held his own in that situation. Their is 'job' offer on the table, becoming an 'assistant' for Mr. Wayne had interesting possiblities, likely to have more to do with the Batsuit well maybe, and after all the family did need the income with his father dead. There he thought that word for the umpteenth time this week.

"I warn you I can be a difficult taskmaster. I expect nothing short of excellence from all who work for me."

Terry somehow already knows possibly what Wayne is really talking about.

"I think I can handle that."

He feels confident yet somehow Wayne might find it arrogant.

"Very good Mr. McGinnis... welcome to _my world_."

His mother smiles more than she had in days, which kind of made him smile too, so another partnership is beginning, and Gotham City is likely to rediscover Batman whether the city wants him back or not. He calls to tell Dana about the new job and she is actually quite happy about it for now meaning Terry will be making good money working for Wayne though hopefully it does not cut into their relationship. Something about Wayne's rough around the edges mannerisms and the fact that his only companion in that manor is a dog does not bode well yet Terry still believes he can manage both sides of being Batman and himself... at least he hopes so.

[+++]

Elsewhere at the Metro Tower, there is talk going around about Batman being back in Gotham. Diana tries to conceal a conflicted reaction yet she knows it cannot be Bruce even if it is true. She sees video footage taken of someone wearing what looks like the tech augmented Batsuit. Whoever it is too slender to be Bruce unless he really got into shape, which is unlikely yet her curiosity is awakened, she would have to keep her eye on this new Batman when time allows her the opportunity.

"Hey Diana..."

"Yes Clark?"

"I guess you heard about this talk of a new Batman?"

"Yes I have..."

"You intend to check it out?"

"Not right now if at all."

She had half lied to one of her oldest and dearest friends yet it did not feel wrong. Her romance with Bruce crashed not long after what happen to Robin... to Tim. She had kept tabs on him and Bruce's other former partners. They had all been contributing to crime fighting indirectly with their current professions even though it is clear that they nor Bruce are in much contact. Her love for him did not dissipate through the decades in fact it continues to burn in her for him.

This opening with a new Batman could be her sought after second chance, well maybe, she is hesitant given their history. She wonders who would have dared to break the walls Bruce had kept around himself for the past few decades and so her search for who he might be begins slowly. She had learned many things about investigation over the years especially having several detectives in the League fosters her education in that area. It would only require something Bruce often said to her like that stakeout above the Iceberg Lounge.

_"Patience Princess... Intergang moves in mysterious ways."_

They still flirted despite the fact that other League couples were definitely a lot more public than they ever were then. It made clear to her that Bruce's feelings are not something he easily vocalizes yet his actions on one particular night were telling even though she spent most of that night as a pig thanks to Circe. She knows she had thrown him off when as she hummed the song she heard from her own visits to the Iceberg Lounge without him yet Zatanna's tale about what happen at the Amphitheatre definitely brought a smile to her face then. As she thinks of it now, it made her smile again, she wonders what his singing voice sounds like regardless of what his voice might sound like now.

Something must have taken a serious turn for him to allow someone else to don the Batsuit and so comes the news about the investigation into the weapons manufacturing at Wayne-Powers especially as the heat is on Powers for now. At any rate, she would find who somehow.

* * *

A/N 1: Per reviewer suggestion this segment tilts more towards Terry's POV, it is somewhat retrospective/parallel to some later events in the preceding chapter. As Terry's mind shifts from his discovery about Batman to what happen to his father.

A/N 2: Since this is still pre-Epilogue, I'm not getting into the revelations that episode gives about the Beyond era characters. Also tried to expand on underused characters because I felt some were underused though probably not on purpose. More on the McGinnis family and of course Dana.

A/N 3: Instead of ending with the fail safe scene, I changed my mind and ended it with well a slight Diana POV scene. Hopefully the reaction sounds plausible enough.

A/N 4: I know Diana doesn't appear in Beyond but according to the commentary from Bruce Timm, he had wanted to have her in the show at least when they introduced Terry to the Justice League in the Beyond-era. Her stand in is an earlier animation of Barda who when seen again in JLU actually looks as attractive as the other women.

A/N 5: Why are superheroes/superheroines always so good looking? I think it means to imply their flaws/issues/problems are more of the emotional or psychological variety.


	3. Rogues and Roses

She is on a mission for her employer who prefers that he gets the contract over his rival plus her employer and the rival have a corporate history due to his hostile take over of Wayne Enterprises. The rival, Lucius Fox, Jr. went on to start Foxteca despite the fact that Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox, Sr. had been in business together for several decades though most of the company business stuck with Fox. Bruce had a long trusting reciprocal partnership with the older Fox and of course he did object to Powers giving his old family friend/business partner's son the boot.

Lucius' son had been the ideal successor to CEO position after Bruce had given up the seat to the older Fox twenty odd years ago. The COO position defaults at that time to the younger Fox who had been one slot below Wayne and his father at the time. Bruce did what he could in a limited capacity to shield Foxteca from corporate sabotage in the past yet his ongoing seclusion made it harder to do this. Powers had sent his saboteur for hire into the fray knowing this well. He desires to get the lunar station contract over Foxteca despite Foxteca being fairly ahead of Powers' program.

It is a simple infiltrate and destruction operation so she is in then out before anyone is the wiser yet the news brief regarding the fire at Foxteca is a little convenient though it pleases Powers so it means Inque will get her pay. She needs the money for reasons she does not tell Powers since their association had begun years ago plus her shape shifting had come in handy more than once. It had made having any sort of love life difficult yet she kept a somewhat platonic relationship with Powers yet she not seen what the gas mixing with the radiation did to him.

Powers is building towards being a walking atomic bomb if he is not careful and he knows that well. Aside from the grafts he also had to have a procedure that drains the radiation out in order to keep Geiger counters from going nuts.

[+++]

Powers gets word that Wayne is coming by a visit, which means he heard about the fire at Foxteca and seems to know that Powers is vying with Fox for the lunar station contract. Powers manages to hide evidence from Wayne and it is simpler with Wayne no longer being here during the day to day activities. Powers had not forgotten how much Wayne fought his attempts to buyout or takeover over Wayne Enterprises yet made a very minute concession in allowing Wayne's name to remain in the company title. The concession had a backhand to it as the Wayne family name still carries a lot of weight in Gotham and in the world.

"I best not discover you were dealing under the table again after what happen last month."

"I don't understand your issues with a weapons manufacturing branch and besides what difference would it make if Wayne-Powers got the station contract over Foxteca."

"It would still smell like you trying to recoup from the loss of the weapons contracts."

"These are different times… wars aren't fought like they were when we were young."

"Weaponry gets deadlier sure, but that doesn't mean this company gets into the mix."

"I'll take it under advisement and as for your concerns about Fox… that is history."

Wayne rises from the chair and notes a sculpture he had not seen before yet Powers wards him off from making physical contact. It could be simple possessive greed or more yet he had his jolt for the day. He rides down with Terry to his car and insists on driving himself back to the Manor. Terry has quickly found out that you best let Wayne do as he prefers when he is in one of his moods. Terry as Bruce notes is definitely getting more perceptive and they vaguely speak of his latest encounter with Powers. They both know it would have taken some kind of fluke or stroke of ingenuity to save him from the final stages of that gas.

A slight Geiger spike reading on Bruce's jacket tells them it is clearly some sort of radiation therapy at least yet for now Powers is staying below the radar in the criminal venue, in the moral ambiguity, and the ethical area. However the extent of the damage to the Foxteca facility is too high for an accidental fire unless there were substances present to make it do that yet it seems unlikely as their too many coincidences in this scenario. It is back to business as usual.

[+++]

Inque is sent to sabotage another part of Foxteca's plans for the lunar station yet to her vague surprise Powers' warning about a new Batman take form as he attempts to stop her yet her shape shifting flexibility give her an edge over him. The edge would be lost if he ever works out her vulnerability. He seems less agile and lacking in combat skills, which would seem strange for someone assuming the place of Gotham's almost forgotten Dark Knight. Her suspicions about Wayne are made sharper by his appearance at Powers' office and now Batman in relative location to herself.

She defeats him with ease and hopes she does not encounter him again. She knows she won't be that lucky yet it is unlikely that this new Batman is working alone despite his predecessor's predisposition towards solo operation. Powers will no doubt have something to say about this if she tells him soon yet she had beaten off the new Batman for now so leave it alone until something goes wrong; use him as a fall guy. Her next job for Powers lands her at the docks, specifically Pier 18, and what she had thought likely to happen… well happens again.

Batman, though he seems to lack combat finesse, he had the gadgets and the persistence, and to her annoyance he finds out her aversion to water. The job is incomplete yet she must get away less she leave an opening that even this seemingly inexperienced Batman could use to catch her. Powers would be more than upset, he might go nuclear, and she gets a small giggle out of that until remembering the man is kept alive by radiation treatments.

[+++]

Powers' limousine makes a stop and he opens the sunroof allowing her to zip inside then the drive to the office resumes by the driver taking the long way this morning. Two nights, one success, one failure, and of course Foxteca still holds the lead in the lunar station bid.

"Status?" quips Powers.

"Phase two went according to plan, phase three did not…"

"What happen?" fumes Powers.

"Batman happened last night…"

"What?!?" snarls Powers.

His skin grafts start wearing off as his irradiated body heats up from anger and frustration. Batman led him to this condition, or he blames the bumbling cape-less crusader for this anyway. He considers his options then orders her to kill Batman and his helping hand. She'll have to bait him somehow in order to get to him and whoever is helping him. Inque zips out through the sunroof and so the limo diverts to his private medical facility because the grafts need replacing since he cannot be seen like this by anyone at the office. Some of his financially silenced doctors persist they cannot keep him going this way indefinitely without negative side effects yet there is talk from his newest hire in biomedical research about engineering him a new body.

It would have to wait yet it holds the most promise to regain his former good health even if it is not his original body anymore.

[+++]

Batman knowingly takes the bait only to find her 'not there' as she had instead made a disappearing act of her own. The ride to wherever Batman hides his array of tools including the suit and this apparent flying version of the Batmobile takes a long time. It gets noticeably cooler once inside what appears to be part of legendary Batcave, which almost nobody had ever seen. She got a rise out possibly being the first villainess to get inside though perhaps one of the others from the old days had been in here yet one thing is certain whoever the original Batman was he had not gotten rid of the memorabilia from what history calls his Rogues' Gallery.

She had overheard him calling whoever it is sounds old, very old, but she could not determine who specifically without visually seeing this presumably older man. All Batman suspects is something is making the vehicle sluggish and the diagnostic reveals of course it is heavier than it should be. She springs from her hiding spot whaling on him instantly then starts to pour in through the mouthpiece to choke him to death then go after the old guy.

However it seems the old guy knows her weakness as she gets a wet feeling from outside as the old guy in something of a disguise is spraying her with water. She scurries away afraid it is damaging her molecular stability yet she loses consciousness. She awakens again awhile later to find them both looking down at her yet she once more attempts to get away only to be thrown back by the electric charge running through the ground floor entrance to the Batcave.

Her strategy to get them both again fails to her surprise yet the odds were different and the inexperienced Batman had an insight to use something to freeze her in place.

"No… not the cold again…"

She feels her body breaking apart in the ice and ends up going to a cryogenic cell.

[+++]

Commissioner Barbara Gordon had been in for the surprise of the week aside from all the rumors about a new Batman yet she chose not to investigate figuring they were only rumors until that little present of a block of ice. At the same time it had come she also got a call from Bruce, something very uncommon, usually she had to call him and even then he did not always answer the phone. However she had been following the recent news about Wayne-Powers and someone foiling Powers' weapons manufacturing plans for the company. No doubt now that this new Batman had something to do with that and something made her wonder who aside from considering that other bit of news about Wayne becoming more publicly active in the past month.

It made quite a stir in the media and she notes the young man at his side. The young man Terrence McGinnis as she found out had a juvenile record yet no other marks on his record since. If Bruce saw something good in him, perhaps she could as well even though she is somewhat not fully open to the prospect a new Batman as she never quite could see how her father did it in the old days. However she had seen some of both sides as her father had to his dying day held such admiration and respect for Batman.

It was only after what happen to Tim that Bruce had come clean with her father and he had become another to keep the secret as he had already had his own realization about Barbara as Batgirl considering the fact that Barbara never hid her hair in costume. Red hair after all seems rather come with costumes and the only other redheads she had known were among Dick's former Titan teammates Kory and Wally West. After Bruce's usual call, she got a really unexpected one from Dick.

"Uh… Hey Babs."

"You haven't called me that in a long time… nobody has… not even my husband."

"How is Sam doing?"

"Being a D.A. and me being a Commissioner keeps us both very busy."

"I share the burden… well I might not be a city attorney… but somebody has to cover those who cannot afford for themselves or hope the government will lend a hand."

"Yeah… we usually had the lot for those in the old times."

"We sure did…"

"I bet you aren't calling just to reminisce."

"I saw the news rumors about a new Batman… my money is on his new assistant."

"You could be right… that would be my guess too… right height, right build, and of course I saw his outline near my window for all of ten seconds… the first Rogue gift on my desk too."

"He's been a busy guy… well I figure he might have been going after whoever had been harassing Fox's company."

"Likely that Bruce's suspicions about Powers are proving to be right… except we don't have the legit evidence to nail the corporate manipulator at least not yet."

"Knowing Bruce he'll want Powers gone before long."

"It'll take time yet Bruce is known for two things… stubbornness and patience."

"Some would still say the same for compassion… though I think we know different."

"It must have taken something big for him to be open to allowing someone with McGinnis' history to wear the Batsuit."

"It probably has some tie to both losing family to a murder… like he did… like I did."

"So you still want have dinner with me and Sam this week?"

"I'm sure Donna will be happy to see you… heck without you I doubt she could made me just admit how I felt about her."

"You only wonder at times why Bruce didn't do the same with you-know-who."

"Donna seems to indicate that it is ancient history… I have my doubts but I keep them to myself."

"Probably the best for…"

"You just wonder how long you could stay tight lipped about it… I mean it's been forty years."

"Again we are talking Bruce Wayne here… she never went on to someone else?"

"She did date yet she kept finding it was not working for either her or whoever the guy was… she is a very particular woman… she did love… just not in love."

"Well see you at dinner later this week… take care now."

"You too Babs… sorry couldn't resist for old times' sake."

If Bruce let someone else be Batman… maybe someday he'd let someone else back into his heart. A great man no doubt there yet as she had known for years now, being such a wonderful man does not make a man's life complete especially with Bruce's history, he had given so much while asking almost nothing in return except one woman did dare. She had been bold enough to let allow herself to fall in love with him and he had done the same with her for awhile until too many things began to settle him into the belief that it would not work out between them.

Life is too short to roll the streets or glide the cityscape alone, she had known that a long time and she figures Bruce does too except he is too driven in his own way to concede that point though some day he just might. It had given her hope after facing a corrupt city for the better part of twenty odd years simply because there is a new Batman and also because Bruce is coming out of seclusion even though the move is a hesitant gesture too. She would ask that one of her detectives to handle the rest of the evening as she felt relieved and more so tired right now.

Someone would handle Inque's frozen self and she would go home to Sam early.

[+++]

Elsewhere reports indicate continuing observations of this new Batman with great interest.

[+++]

Diana contemplates seeking out Bruce or at least visiting Gotham to ascertain who this new Batman is except after awhile she decides the time is not right yet fumes at herself when will the right time ever come to decide what to do about Bruce. She had thrown herself into League work after Bruce and Batman began to crop up less in her life both in and out of costume. None of her relationships lasted long except maybe with King yet even he could tell she was unhappy about something even when she genuinely smile around him. She chose to end it amicably with him and they had kept in touch since even with his high profile government job after leaving his League liaison position behind to work in Washington.

There is holo-news broadcast at the steps of Foxteca's Gotham City home office where Lucius Fox, Jr. announces the successful bid for the new lunar station, which certainly seems to please many including him though she imagines someone at Wayne-Powers is probably quite unhappy about that turnout. It would not be Bruce though, probably the corporate viper Powers, but Powers had been in trouble last month if what she had read is any indication. It had also shown Bruce going more active than usual, which brought something of a smile to her face, many were quite set on the idea that Bruce would just pander away the rest of his life in that manor on the promontory over looking that cove.

Some part of her always disagreed with that and when she saw the young man at Bruce's side, she saw uncanny resemblance between him and the way Bruce looked decades ago yet Bruce never had any children of his own despite how much she wanted to have his some day. She wonders if Bruce had seen the resemblance too yet even if he did, it might not mean much for now. Diana's mind drifts back to the happier times with him to those more intimate moments with him especially at the promontory.

She fondly remembers the nights they set out there together after the Thanagarian Occupation had come to a halt and somehow during all of it she did manage to give him a kiss that he would probably never forget nor would she ever forget it. She doesn't care how he looks now, on the inside she only hopes that he has not let the fires simmer, because she still burns at times for him, she wonders does he? Just because they went separate ways does not mean their hearts are no longer tied together. There is a chime at her door and she goes over to it only to hear a whoosh just as she opens the door.

She hears Wally's voice calling out as he zips away then reverse steps back to say what he had said in a hurry a minute ago.

"Hey Wondy... somebody sent this over for you... no card though... didn't think anybody did flowers anymore."

"Uh... thanks Wally."

She picks the vase up and notices that a certain someone remembers her favorite flower.

She heads back into her room and when she turns on the flat screen television, she finds one of her favorite musicals is on this evening... _**West Side Story**_... plus it is up to the scene where Tony sings _Something's Coming_.

_Could be!  
Who knows?  
There's something due any day;  
I will know right away,  
Soon as it shows.  
It may come cannonballing down through the sky,  
Gleam in its eye,  
Bright as a rose!_

She grins slightly noting that the flowers in the vase that she is holding are yellow roses.

_If this is Bruce... his memory is as sharp as ever... there'll never be anyone else... you hear me Bruce... never._

* * *

A/N 1: I decided that this would actually be slightly AU from the regular Beyond era continuity since I'm featuring characters from other series that don't appear in DCAU series or not in the Beyond series.

A/N 2: Takes place during the events of Black Out, the episode that follows Rebirth. References to Justice League era episodes made by Diana's POV.

A/N 3: Trying to build up the Beyond era Rogues more too. I mean they were fairly interesting on their own, but I guess its taking further with more details in mind.

A/N 4: In this version of the Beyond era Barbara marries Sam like she had before the show began whereas Dick marries Donna... who actually never appears in a DCAU series. As for Diana, she's kind of a periphery character for the time being.... she's taken interest in this new Batman development of course.

A/N 5: ... she's not the only taking interest though.


	4. Windmills in Mind

_**Like a circle in a spiral  
Like a wheel within a wheel  
Never ending or beginning,  
On an ever spinning wheel  
As the images unwind  
Like the circles that you find  
In the windmills of your mind**_

[+++]_**  
**_

They agreed to have dinner at a place that Dick and Barbara had not been to since what happen with Freeze decades ago. As she enters, she remembers them dancing that night though she recalls his stuttering preoccupation with her flowing dark blue dress, which she had purposely chosen knowing how he would probably react it too. A simpler slice of time, to be arm in arm with him on the dance floor either in that dress or the jazz festival just before Freeze had come into the picture again. The fate of Freeze had not been a pleasant one for he had lost all to save his beloved wife yet it shown that even the most outwardly cold men still had a 'bleeding' heart.

Freeze and by extension Batman…Bruce had shown that appearances can often be deceiving yet by no means does it mean that there is not some telltale sign as to what may be going on underneath it all. All of her experiences with Batman's rogues had different impacts yet the ones she had felt the most sympathy for were Freeze, Two-Face, and of course Harley. The thought of Harley however trips her back to the last time she fought her. What happen to Tim and the fact that Harley went along with it made her so furious at the time. In the end, both of them seem to perish while the Bat family was left with the aftershocks and the scars.

It had been during those turbulent years as Batman's partner that she fallen in love with Bruce even though he did not really seem to reciprocate her affections often or at all. Her attention snaps back to Sam as kisses her before asking for a table for four. Dick and Donna are running a little late between Dick's work as an attorney and hers as a well-to-do photographer. It gives Barbara and Sam some time to consider what to order yet some part of her reminisces again about the early years with Sam.

[+++]

_She had been in her own way flirting with three different men at once. As Batgirl, she had made the slip perhaps of having taken things further with Batman after what happen with Robin. As Babs she had seen more of Dick than she thought possible yet by then she saw him more and more often in the company of Donna Troy. Donna visually reminds her too much of Diana, the very idea that she let herself fall into the delusion that she is competing with Diana for Bruce's affections seem like a laugh yet Bruce had for whatever his reasons put a stopper or a wedge to the prospects of seeing Diana too often._

_One night as she recalls, they were both drunk and probably 'fessing up things they should have kept to themselves. Bruce found more restraint it seems than she did after she kissed him on the lips. He did return the kiss yet not much else happens in the weeks that follow at least until they were drunk again. They had spent a few drunken nights together in the same bed yet they never slept together. He didn't think it was smart to keep going along like this simply because Barbara had hit a rough spot realizing things were never going to be the same again at least until she met Sam. However before then they finally did sleep together because that one night they were both too drunk to stop themselves it seems to Bruce in retrospect._

_Barbara had met Sam during her last year in college after all the Batwoman incident. It had become clear to him that he let things go too far with Barbara ad they had in one sense of the word gone over some boundaries they definitely should not have gone over. The things had happen, there is no taking it back, and so he tries to ease out of having anything more than a working partnership with her. She is reluctant to take the hint yet Sam being almost the exact opposite Bruce except in regards to his heart, his compassion made it less trying to push away from Bruce in terms of romance. Sam had gone onto to law school and she had gone onto the police academy to follow in her father's foot steps._

[+++]

Dick gets a flying lift from Donna to the restaurant since his car is still in the shop after something of a bump on the way from work his law office. Wally even in his older years still provides crime scene investigation support so Dick periodically consults him as well as others, which means while not exactly active in costume anymore, he still had outside the system contacts.

_Dick recalls the manor being rather lonely at first as he saw very little of Bruce Wayne yet the Waynes portrait hanging in the sitting room or den caught his eye. One evening he finally caught up with Bruce and the two had a long talk about their parents. He had found later that Bruce tried to track down the Graysons' murderer yet Zucco had gone to ground leaving trace to follow so eventually the case had gone to the cold section of the archives for the GCPD. Many years later, He and Batman are on stake out, which leads to the capture as well as interrogation of one thugs working for one Billy Marin. Batman… Bruce had already known Marin's real identity and so set off to find 'Marin' alone._

_Dick having spent so much time around Bruce or rather picking up so much from Batman decides he will not be left out in the cold as the pursuit of Marin continues, which brings them full circle to the situation that brought them together as father and son of a kind. Marin is an alias for Zucco, which fuels then Robin to pursue his parents' murderer. Both of them remember the events that follow differently where for once both Bruce and Batman had to think of someone other than himself in the mission. There had been bystanders yet this is different, this is practically personal._

_The original pursuit of Zucco had gone awry because Batman chose to save Dick over catching Zucco much to Dick's frustration despite having been kept from drowning. Both went after him separately the first time and Dick had to track separately once Bruce shut him out of tracking the Batmobile. A phone tap got him Zucco's location and so he heads there only to find Batman there ahead of him unlike the first time. However Batman… Bruce… is hurt from dodging Zucco's attempts to shoot him. Robin… Dick is ready to avenge his parents yet Batman… Bruce intervenes on the insistence that he let the police take it from here… to not do what he is thinking of doing right now._

"_You let him get away the first time… I could have stopped him that night… could have said something …done something… both times I did nothing and you did nothing… you don't know how I feel! How could you?" growls Robin/Dick._

_Dick realizes his error in his commentary before looking at Batman… looking at Bruce apologetically before dropping Zucco. The police take Zucco away where he will be face multiple criminal charges and likely never get a shot at a parole. Bruce limping along with Dick shouldering him they choose to remember that they are doing what they do for each other and for their sorely missed yet beloved parents._

"_I'm sorry…"_

"_It is alright… you have a right to be angry with me… but he had already taken away so much from you except your life… I couldn't let him do that… I mean I had Alfred… he's more… perhaps even twice the paternal figure I could ever be…"_

"_You do yourself an injustice Bruce… for a man that's not a father like figure by birth… you are doing okay aside from an upstart rebellious streak in me…"_

"_I am already down the road that follows if you take a frustration of not being able to prevent so much… and I didn't want you to follow that… you can be a much happier… better man than I am Dick."_

"_Again such an injustice… let's just go home and take care of our injuries…"_

[+++]

_Things would sour more in the years to come and once Dick graduates from Gotham State… it went through the roof. Bruce in his Batman voice summons Dick away from dinner with Barbara, of course he would grouchily complains Dick is late and Dick in less than joking way apologizes in the context oh sorry Batman for having a social life. It had almost been rhetorical for their verbal spars before going in to handle the criminals except this time its Joker stealing a radar jammer._

_Batman gets buried leaving Robin to pursue on his own except their only lead is the left behind driver, Conner, yet Robin shows signs of recoil when encountering the suspect's family, especially the suspect's little boy. Batman smashes through the window and slams Conner against the wall then starts the interrogation as the family watches in something a horrified gaze. Robin bails out after declaring his intent to leave so there are no leads; Batman abruptly leaves later, and gets out of the suit with nothing to go on until Joker makes a move._

_However Barbara turns up, they get to talking about Dick's behavior and notices a common string in all of it that Dick for better or worse is developing a mind of his own, which means some thing has got to give sooner or later. If their partnership dissolves it would not end well and his suspicion to that end got confirmation after what happens later that night on the rooftop to stop Joker's scheme involving the radar jammer. He is unable from his position to stop Batgirl… to stop Barbara from taking a hit across the face that sends her plummeting off the side of the tallest building in Gotham. Robin's arrival at street level is timely for again saving Barbara's life even though he had apparently not known his lovely lady at the time is also Batgirl._

_He had made some kind of connection when he saw Barbara's car outside the manor earlier so he had come at incredible speed on the Batcycle. The detachable booster seat built into the cycle enables him to close the gap then fire off a grappler to land on the nearest roof yet at her insistence they head back up as Batman is in a jam literally. Joker is beaten by being tricked into shooting the jammer yet Batgirl narrowly dodges the exploding jammer with Batman's help. Joker is taken away as are his goons while the trio falls back to another roof where the lovebirds have it out._

"_How could you keep something like this from me?"_

_She jabs him with her gloved index finger before saying anything._

"_You weren't exactly honest with me either."_

_He parts his arms before continuing his rant._

"_But you told him!"_

_Dick points directly at Bruce._

"_He knew…"_

_The slight surprise is short lived in Dick's expression._

"_It was not my place to tell you."_

_Dick fumes inwardly then pushes his way around Barbara before advancing on Bruce._

"_Though it was your place to put her in danger!" retorts Dick._

_The two men stare at each other dead on as Barbara attempts to interject on her behalf._

'_It wasn't like that I volunteered!"_

"_You think you did…"_

_He looks first to her then back to him._

"… _You don't know him like I do…"_

_The impassive gaze on Bruce's face reads through the cowl except there is a sign that there is truth in Dick's interpretation of his behavior._

"… _He manipulates … pulls strings…anything to get what he wants…."_

_Barbara does not consider the unstable ground she puts herself on by trying to mediate a way out of this. There is no way out except through the splintering that is soon to happen between the two. She gazes downward knowing that trying to work this out between them will not come the way she believes it can, the only way is however Dick aims to end this and what Bruce contends to be the case in turn._

_The anger and the sadness are all too visible yet it seems necessary to come clean now._

_Batman… Bruce tries to reach out to him despite knowing this will not end well._

"_I thought we had the same goals…" says Bruce somberly in the Bat voice._

"_Things changed! The game is over, Batman! I quit!"_

_He begins to walk away; Bruce places a hand on Dick's shoulder only to get the receiving end of Dick's well aimed yet somewhat unexpected punch. Bruce falls back, Barbara conceals a gasp at what just happen, and Dick throws down the mask, and tosses the cape. He pulls out the grappler then leaps over the side and disappears into the night. They would not see him again for awhile yet at his return he is naturally older, leaner, and of a different costume look, he becomes Nightwing._

[+++]

_For a time after that things seem to have gone on the mend yet after Tim's abduction things went sour again. At first only Tim is forbidden, then he tells both Barbara and Dick to stand down. Dick simply distances himself from Bruce, from Batman, from Gotham, and even from Barbara. His romance with her smoldered despite the fact they still did care and feel for each other. He had instead chosen to reconnect with Donna once she had come to Bludhaven. _

_Their friendship is only kept intact by Donna's relationship with him and her attempts to at least get them talking once she informs Barbara of their intention to marry likewise when she marries Sam, they come out for that occasion. Bruce on both occasions sends gifts yet makes no appearance and later on both days makes a phone call on Dick's wedding day to Dick and a call to Barbara on hers. Both times the calls are brief yet friendly._

[+++]

"Hello Sam… how's the docket?"

"More of the same… what about Bludhaven?"

"Same too… sounds like your wife's job got a little more exciting with a new Batman out there."

"So far he has done some good… problems with the Jokerz are down for the moment. He put a stopper in the sabotage going at Foxteca holdings yet of course there is someone else at work here or at least some of us who knew Batman in the past would guess as much."

"I doubt someone with a morality akin to the original Batman would withhold information."

"Only time will tell."

"She's got a point."

There is a break as each of them sips their drinks.

"We'll keep that in mind Donna… so how's Diana?"

"She's definitely taken with a lot of news surrounding this new Batman and been a little talkative about the uptake in a certain someone's public appearances…."

"She still carries a torch for someone after all these years?"

"No way to be sure that he still does…"

"Maybe she should find out…"

"I think she is afraid to… sure we may be Amazons, but we are still women with hearts that are about the most vulnerable part of us that if not treated with care… well we become hesitant and guarding in that respect."

A few start munching on complimentary bread with butter.

"Well its not like we have forever… best to use the time as you have got it rather than fearing what would happen if you did do something…"

"He on the other hand seems to have made up his mind yet there are signs he has doubts too."

"Anyway back to dinner…"

"Waiter…"

It is a rather quiet dinner yet at least the company is good as well as the food being of high quality. They part ways as Sam drives Barbara back to Gotham while Donna flies Dick back to Bludhaven. Talk of the past is limited simply because some prefer not to speak of it much or often.

[+++]

Once back in Gotham, Sam and Barbara cozy up to watch an old film favorite of theirs. The male character is an arts connoisseur that swipes paintings for fun yet it becomes so much more when he has met his match in a female insurance agent/bail bondsman.

Elsewhere in Bludhaven, Dick and Donna dance slowly on a rooftop to an old song that they used to dance to a lot called _Windmills of Your Mind._

* * *

A/N 1: Lyrics at the beginning belong to a favorite song of mine called Windmills of Your Mind by Sting, who an unrelated note has the same birthday as me. The song can be heard in both versions of the Thomas Crowne Affair movie. I have only seen the newer one as of yet.

A/N 2: Much of this one is flashbacks separately for Dick and Barbara. A lot of it well falls into the category of angst or hurt though some of it is comfort. I kind of lessened whatever implications are made about any kind of flirty/romance-y stuff that goes on between Bruce and Barbara. I was never really a fan of that so I recrafted it as them being well platonic/drunk at the time.

A/N 3: The concept of them having done certain things while drunk seems believable and plus they both have some kind emotional/psychological baggage in their lives.

A/N 4: The first string of flashbacks concentrate on Barbara. The second is primarily for Dick especially regarding the contrast between his early days as Robin and his last nights as Robin before switching over to Nightwing.

A/N 5: Diana gets mentioned indirectly... her full reintroduction is still kind of pending. Some future ideas down the line are episodes that involve Freeze, maybe Shriek, definitely bringing in the Royal Flush gang particularly for the sake of Melanie and maybe some way of more involving Selina aside from the mention. Of course Powers transformation into Blight is likely to crop up too.


	5. Iceman Cometh

Continuity Note: Present- Meltdown; Past: Heart of Ice, Deep Freeze, Subzero, and Cold Comfort.

* * *

One constant in this place for him is the cold, and as for emotions he thought he had none left after all these decades yet some thing changes with the regular visits by a Doctor Stephanie Lake. She reminds him a little too much of Nora at times. The likeness is superficial and he remembers with almost crystal clarity all the decades in this vault. His sole motivation long ago was to save Nora yet once done, he found soon enough his own body was wasting away. Nothing could stop degeneration yet he would still search for a treatment, to no avail, and so the doctors begin trying simple things like trying to isolate the spread of subzero instigated neural apathy within his body.

The degeneration, the degradation is too fast for them yet he persists they search or try anyway. Multiple amputations are made in an effort to slow the degeneration yet nothing works so in the end all that is left is his head... his brain... his mouth... and his suffering gaze. His original purpose no longer the driving fire in his bones, he instead turns to destroying that which is valuable to everyone else. His new purpose however leads to only one direction to the vault and oblivion.

[+++]

Freeze disappears from sight for decades yet Lake and her employer make him an offer to engineer a new body then transfer his consciousness to it. He considers it yet something about Stephanie makes him decide to go through with it. They hook up all the necessary wires to facilitate the transfer and so he knows either this will be his end or he'll wake up in a body without the need of a cold suit. She is saying something to him about the prospect of discomfort during the transfer yet he passes it off as unlikely since his nervous system is somewhat deadened from years in cryo containment. It does however trigger a cascade within his brain and he shouts as if in pain for several seconds.

[+++]

He springs up noticing the notion that he is actually moving then places his hands in front of his eyes then runs them against his face debating whether this is a dream or is real so of course Dr. Lake... Stephanie exists it is quite real. The transfer had been a success so he strokes his fingers against his skin then he touches her hands, they feel so warm and she does blush slightly at the physical contact. Freeze... Fries had been a leading cryogenics expert in his pre-Freeze years and he made such risks to save his beloved Nora. It is impressive though of course she would have to ward off having any kind of relationship with him yet he senses he is proof at the moment that her theories and procedures for neural transfer are solid. They prepare to bury the head he no longer inhabits yet as the hours pass he does start to feel just a tad warmer than he had at first. It seems like nothing as he had not sweat at all in decades. Someone nearly attacks him at cemetery, someone he likely did something to do a lifetime ago as Mr. Freeze, but of course this new Batman as he finds is coming to his aid.

_Some things never change do they... so like him in that respect... he seems younger and more slender than his predecessor... wonder whatever happen to that one?._

"You alright Mr. Fries?" asks Batman.

"I'm quite alright Batman... and as for my attacker... I intend to establish a foundation in my wife's name to assist those whose suffering continues since my less than apparent demise."

"A very generous pursuit Fries. Does try to be careful though... not everyone believes or thinks you deserve a second chance... however I do believe and think you do."

_So like him.... very much so... perhaps if your status holds as much sway as his did maybe I'll find a shoulder to lean on with you._

As soon as Batman had been there he is gone.

_Infamous Bat-esque disappearing act remains too eh?_

He leaves the cemetery with Stephanie.

***

_Decades ago, a younger Mr. Fries, still then Dr. Fries in secret constructs a new cryogenics system in order to preserve and prolong his beloved Nora's life until a cure can be found for her terminal condition yet his Gothcorp superior CEO Ferris Boyle discovers what Fries is continues this endeavor despite the cancellation of the cryogenics project. Boyle did not know at the time that Fries' had kept a video journal of the entire process so this particular incident that follows in the next several minutes is on tape. The only visual evidence of Boyle's malevolent intentions towards Victor and Nora Fries left is a single tape hidden away in a filing cabinet at Gothcorp yet of course Fries had gotten into a one track mind to do whatever it takes to save Nora._

_"I created this new technology... this cryogenics tank is a prototype and a model for a system that can be used to freeze terminally ill patients in order to slow the disease or the illness to an almost complete stop... patients or subjects like my beloved Nora who this system is being tested on."_

_There is a rattling at the door to the lab._

_"Open this door. Open it now!"_

_One of two guards forces his way in with Boyle and another guard right behind him. The tape stutters a bit. Boyle advances towards Fries and the tank. Fries put himself between Boyle and the tank. Boyle is angrier about the money than what Victor had done._

_"Get away from that..."_

_Boyle turns to the guards._

_"Shut it down..."_

_Fries stands firm and counters Boyle's command._

_"This is my experiment..."_

_'Your unauthorized experiment... I terminated funding weeks ago."_

_"... My wife is in there..."_

_"Then bring her out..."_

_"You can't interrupt the process now..."_

_The scene is an increasingly tragic one for one Dr. Victor Fries as he is desperate to save Nora. He pulls one of the firearms from a guard and aims at Boyle._

_"NO... stay away from her... murderer!"_

_Boyle appears to be trying to talk him down until he kicks him towards the lab station, which has a great deal of the cryogenics coolant in various containers and test tubes, which all smash under his body weight releasing it in a gaseous state as well as liquid onto Victor's skin. Boyle shouts for the guards to get out and so he flees as well while the lab turns into a space made of ice. Victor crawls and claws his way towards Nora's tank unsure if he had any success in stopping Boyle's plan to terminate the protocol. He feels so cold as the coolant is altering his body and knows what will follow unless he can find a way to preserve his own body at a subzero temperature. He finds a way and of course it is a cryogenics suit that augments his physical strength through the cold._

[+++]

_His plot to avenge himself against Boyle proceeds without incident. However the thefts to construct a more powerful cold gun leads him to cross paths with Batman yet unexpectedly Batman is sympathetic though this does deter the newly minted Mr. Freeze. Batman had obviously seen the tape and felt certainly that Fries while trying to save his wife only got the receiving end of Ferris Boyle's wrath via greed. Batman's exclamation as the tape finishes is telling yet nothing must stop the plan now. Freeze is not a total villain... true he had stolen... put others in harm's way even himself... but he had been doing it to save his wife...does that justify criminal behavior?_

_It seems someone other than himself might and that awakens a slight twinge of regret as he freezes Batman though not before making a parting statement._

_"Yes... it would move me to tears... if I had any left to give..."_

_This would not be the last time they met... only the first of several times. The next would be when Freeze goes after Boyle directly._

_"The snow is beautiful, don't you think? Clean. Uncompromising."_

_"...and cold."_

_"Like the swift hand of vengeance."_

_"I saw what happened to your wife. I'm sorry."_

_"I'm beyond emotions. They've been frozen dead in me."_

_"That suit you wear... a result of the coolant?"_

_"Very good... a detective to the last. I can no longer survive out of a sub-zero environment. Tonight I mean to pay back the man who ruined my life... our lives."_

_"Even if you have to kill everyone in the building to do it?"_

_"Think of it, Batman. To never again walk upon a summer's day with a hot wind in your face and a warm hand to hold. Oh yes, I'd kill for that." _

_Freeze's plans for Boyle are for naught yet Boyle will get his due for what he did to them just not the way Freeze might have done it. Separately both Freeze and Boyle will endure prison time._

[+++]

_Once again Victor grasps the effigy ballerina between his hands and so it turns like it had before on the night he made the promise to punish Boyle. He told Batman he no longer felt emotions yet now he many things all of them quite cold in description, no pun at any rate. He looks upon the ballerina merging it with his wife as he pleads with it._

_"I failed you. I wish there were another way for me to say it. I cannot. I can only beg your forgiveness and pray you hear me somehow... someplace. Someplace where a warm hand waits for mine."_

{+++]

_Freeze remains in Arkham much longer then any other Rogue as he had no motivation to break out yet someone had eventually sent something after him. Each corridor especially in maximum security wings had cameras and the one that catches Freeze's reaction to his abduction is telling to say the least. The Iceman is not so emotionless after all as Bruce recalls the incident more than once over the years_

[+++]

_Elsewhere off-shore the machine returns to its master with the captive within its innards kept cold. Freeze is met by Grant Walker who is basically the photo negative of Walt Disney if anyone actually made that comparison nobody ever said it out loud. Walker goes on and on about how his latest undertaking Oceana will be the underwater utopia that ushers in a new era while the rest of the world enters the grips of a new Ice Age. At first Freeze holds no interest in the somewhat delusional Walker's plan until he is shown his wife still in stasis, still alive though frozen in time as the cold stops the spread of the disease for the time being._

_She is made a bargaining chip so that not only will the world freeze yet Walker will be made immortal by the same process or rather accident that keeps Freeze in the subzero suit. It had made him like an inversion of Prometheus yet instead of fire, it is ice, it is cold that anchors him to his 'rock', to his subzero suit. Freeze begins preparing for the procedure yet somewhere inside his heart, his conscience is twitching for how might Nora react to a world frozen by Walker's plan though he pushes it aside. As saving Nora is still his sole focus yet Batman would again confront him with the same qualms he himself had plus his own fears about Nora's reactions to what Freeze had done to get save her._

_Walker, an aging and dying fool in Freeze's mind, got his wish for frozen immortality yet he had already been frozen in his own way before willingly embracing his desire to be like Freeze. As appearances go there is little to differentiate them after Walker begins to experience the subzero suit and all its gimmicks. However instead of letting Walker freeze the world, the machine is instead set off within Oceana committing the city of the future to a watery grave and all its residents flee the freezing over floating city. Batman had made the offer again yet his response this time is freezing Robin._

_Walker's fate after his crowning achievement sinks beneath the waves matters not to Freeze for he is again with his beloved Nora, the only thing that matters now, and it seem Freeze would disappear with her. His hand… fingers and palm streak against the cold exterior of the stasis chamber as he looks to her and so from now on, it would only be them in tandem with her recovery as his singular purpose. The block of ice containing them floats northward towards the Arctic._

[+++]

"Everything alright Victor?" queries Stephanie.

"I keep feeling warmer… it is so strange… I was so used to extreme cold and now this."

"Perhaps we should return to the medical facility to check on your body."

"Advisable."

It is not long to get back after leaving the news studio. He steps inside and strips off his shirt as the sweating is getting worse. She activates the temperature regulators and starts to make it cooler inside then it is outside. It seems to stabilize him for the moment and so she steps out of his line of sight. He could not hear whatever she said to the person on the other end of the line yet then she suddenly starts to crank up the temperature. Victor pounds away at the glass only to find himself sweating worse and he begins to wonder if he can break out before the heat kills him.

"What are you doing?" gasps Fries.

"It seems the success of transferring you was short lived… your body is rebelling against the temperatures above freezing and it gets worse… you are reverting to your previous state."

"This does not mean you have to kill me…so what was I to you or Powers for that matter?"

"A test… Powers has a condition that is deadly for him."

"Just like Walker… he wants a path to immortality… I tell you the same I told him in the end… immortality is a lie… at least in a subzero suit it is one…"

Victor smashes his way out of the containment chamber and takes off still sweating yet bent on one thing only denying Stephanie and Powers what they were after in having given him a new body that is now putting a dent in Powers' agenda. He recalls where he had hidden away one of his most advanced subzero/cold suits so it seems Victor Fries is about to die again thus the Iceman Cometh again… the resurrection of Mr. Freeze. He almost felt sorry to disappoint Batman again after all in either century the Dark Knight kept aiming to help him yet it seems he had been beyond help since the night of original accident.

[+++]

_Nora's stasis chamber is broken by the submarine's breach of the ice cave where he had kept her since their arrival in the Arctic following what happen at the sunken city of Oceana. Nora's illness is back with a vengeance so it seems desperate measures are necessary now. He begins the long arduous journey back to the familiar skyline of Gotham because the foremost cryogenics specialist after himself is Dr. Gregory Belson who worked at Gothcorp years ago. It is a something of a heat wave in Gotham so the trap is set by freezing up an entire section of the road in order to make his offer to Belson._

_If it meant appealing to his former colleague's greed then so be it, Nora is worth any amount even if it means giving Belson access to the gold vein he found up in the Arctic away from prying eyes of explorers who were down likely dead from the cold. They thought they were surfacing into an empty chamber, their final mistake, and so he had taken Nora as well as Koonak all the way to a location tenable for him near Gotham. He sees Gregory's car flip over so goes over and reacquaints himself with Belson._

"_I hope you realize who you are dealing with here…"_

"_Is that anyway to talk to an old colleague Gregory?"_

"_Victor? So you are that Mr. Freeze guy huh?"_

"_How astute…don't you read the news or the papers at all?"_

"_Too busy with my work… though I heard about what happen to Nora and stories about you."_

"_Nominally I would have kept searching for a cure in secret except unexpected visitors at my supposedly secluded hideaway caused irreparable damage to the cryo-stasis unit."_

"_So the disease is spreading again?"_

"_Likely… I need your help to save her."_

_Belson seems hesitant until Victor shows him a chunk of gold from the hidden vein. Belson's eyes light up considerably._

"_So when do we begin?"_

"_First you must see her if we are to make any determination as to what must be done…"_

_The two make the journey to an abandoned off-shore oil rig and Belson determines she'll need an allograft… a blood compatible organ transplant. The search shifts to Gotham General's blood donor archives. There are over a dozen matches for Nora's rare blood type and somehow the chosen candidate is Barbara Gordon. It is not a simple matter to track her so Belson phones faking out as a hospital official and then Freeze sets off to 'persuade' her to help him._

[+++]

_He sees a woman who looks so vital, full of life, and in the company a loving male if the kiss he spots them almost having as he barges in with a pair of polar bears is any indication. He demands to that Barbara Gordon come forward or else. No one steps out so he prepares to start freezing things or people to get her attention or snag her into putting others ahead of herself. She comes forward willing except the male with her repeatedly tries to fend him off yet eventually he does get her yet once more the male pursues aboard a motorcycle._

_The male who he heard her passing refer to as Dick seeks to defend her with his life. Freeze wonders if he were not so determined to save his wife, if Nora were cured, alive and more… he would be likely to be more like this Dick then this way yet things were not ideal, they had never been ideal. Some times it felt like the situation forces him to behave this way even though some may argue there is always a choice or a decision well it had been made. His single mindedness is likely to garner the wrong kind of attention as he recalls there being another Gordon in Gotham… its very own GCPD commissioner and of course with that rests the likelihood of Batman getting on the case too._

_At the moment he seems to have the advantage yet Batman is legendary for patience, persistence, and being of course relentless. _

[+++]

_In her second and latest escape attempt, Belson alone pursues her top side and it is then that the Dynamic Duo some call them arrive on the scene. Belson has also however shot several fuel storage tanks and the sparks are liable to trigger a fire before long too. Freeze entraps them within the crane control booth by a wall of ice after they secure a route down from the upper level for Barbara. Her slide down is cut off by an explosion, she falls first to a weaker rung, and then straight down yet remains alert enough to get away. It is a blur as Freeze then goes after Belson yet Belson is now reluctant to continue under these conditions. _

_A burning tower topples so Belson utilizing Freeze's distraction shoves his would be financier in the direction of the tower's collapse then flees the area. Freeze is certain his leg is broken and yet Barbara comes to his aid despite him willing to kill her for the allograft to save Nora. Barbara however does not possess the necessary strength to hold the beam up long enough though Batman is certainly willing to strain himself to do it. Barbara and Robin hurry to pull him away._

_Batman shoulders him as they make their way towards the stairwell, which is now engulfed in flames. Freeze slows the fire by freezing the stairwell yet there is a conflict of interest at least for Robin. He had come here to save Barbara yet Barbara is intent on saving Nora and Koonak despite what had taken place in the past few days. She is also the only one able to walk that knows the way down so it is up to her to guide Batman. Freeze opts in his condition remain here until their return so Robin must prep the Batwing immediately._

_The landing platform collapses just as he gets the plane up yet it plunges to water just as the boat Belson took passes under it. It is likely that the fallen platform's drop killed him. Nobody is likely to survive that much metal crashing down on them no matter what velocity unless you were Superman maybe. _

_The Batwing enters a holding pattern yet as Batman carries Nora and Barbara guides Koonak to the elevator it is clear the fire is getting worse. The elevator car gets stuck halfway up and Freeze under great physical strain forces the doors apart then fires the cold gun at the flames in the elevator shaft then pushes the up button again. The car makes it up and Batman briefly kneels down to tell him it is time to go yet Freeze… Fries… Victor insists that they get Nora to safety first. The heart still beats… perhaps faster and stronger with her life no just at risk from a disease, but this fire as well._

_However the platform's outer edge is continuing to collapse under age and heat like ice breaking off from a larger piece when there is enough of a temperature spike._

_They hurry their charges to the Batwing and once everyone is aboard Freeze sees the outline of Batman returning for him. The foolish crime fighter had a heart too, one hidden by cloak and cowl, by deception and darkness, it is there, he had seen it in the way he spoke to his partner and to Barbara Gordon. There is a man inside Batman, a compassionate man, and one could only hope perhaps that it never does too much harm to those that care about him or to him. It is a blur as Batman tries to utilize his grappler to pull Freeze up except a chunk of metal hits them both breaking Batman's grip causing Freeze to plummet towards the flame._

_He can hear Batman's anguish howl and then nothing except the familiar roughness of his pair of polar bears ferrying his weight back to his hideaway in the Arctic yet one day while passing a remote ice fishing cabin he spots its denizens watching the news. It is Summer Gleason reporting from Gotham on the recovery of Nora Fries thanks to the biomedical and cryogenics division at Wayne Enterprises yet she also credits the **late **Dr. Victor Fries with the baseline technology that had kept her alive until now.  
_

_He felt something strange in his eyes as he watches, he felt tears so what further proof could there be that he is not as emotionless as he claims though of course it is not long before he suffers the degeneration that claims almost his entire body except his head. _

[+++]_  
_

The vault was a reprieve in contrast to everything else and so even the new body proves to be another disappointment as Powers had been using him as a guinea pig. Powers would suffer the fate that Boyle had gotten away from decades ago and Stephanie would know what Nora had known except instead of a cure, she would know forever cold instead. However the extent of Powers' condition is unknown to him so only after freezing him does he discover his error when enduring the irradiated blast from the true self that hides beneath the skin grafts.

It is around this time that new Batman also comes into the fray and discovers he too cannot withstand the radiation for long either. The irradiated figure self-proclaims himself as Blight, which seems far too apt with the amount of radiation that he is exuding from his body. It is untenable to say the least yet Freeze…

Fries now dwells on the one thing that had been on his mind more or less since going into that vault… for what is death to an Iceman?

"Stay where you are," commands Freeze

"You've got to get out of here, Fries! The whole place is going to go!" pleads Batman/Terry.

"Believe me, you're the only one who cares," admits Freeze/Fries somberly.

The interior begins to collapse in spades and perhaps now he could die in peace after so long a weary life.

[+++]

Batman… Terry falls back knowing that Powers will have to pay for this too and another mystery is who is Blight yet something seems familiar there too. As he flees he can only hope that death brings Fries some solace. He returns to the manor and takes the opportunity to pass the suit through the decontamination system to purge the radiation left on it by this 'Blight' yet Bruce leaves him with a gift of sorts as well as a note. It reads...

**"_Right to fear I was for a resurrection of Mr. Freeze yet you were right to hope that Victor Fries might win out this time… so I give you something from before my time… a novel called Frankenstein." – Bruce._**

_**

* * *

**_A/N 1:Like the segment told relatively from Inque's POV_**, **_this one is told mostly from Victor Fries''s POV, based mostly on the scenes that deal with him from all his appearances from Heart of Ice to Meltdown. The retcon of his origins story in BtAS made him a far more sympathetic Rogues Gallery character than most as his criminal behavior is motivated by his desire to save Nora yet once this is done he only discovers that in saving her, he is unable to save himself and perhaps ashamed to reveal his condition to her.

A/N 2: Calling this segment Iceman Cometh is very intentional on my part, no infringement intended, simply felt that title superficially applies to Freeze/Fries. He just makes a different kind of jarring aftereffect in his appearances than all the other rogues. Joker could be usually laughed off except with his appearances in Mask of the Phantasm, Return of the Joker, and his few appearances in Justice League. As for Two-Face well he pretty much owned me between his appearances in Two-Face (BtAS) and Judgment Day (TNBA)

A/N 3: I supposed I tried to get into a Mr. Freeze's mindset in order to write this plus having reading Frankenstein a couple of times and some knowledge of Greek mythology contributes to some of this chapter too. I kind of likened him to Prometheus (ice instead of fire), a hybrid of Frankenstein and the creature, the scientist who tries to save his wife and the creature... the being that suffers for his humanity

A/N 4: Both Bruce and Terry as Batman in two different centuries as well as Barbara try to help Freeze whereas Boyle, Walker, and Powers are using him. On some level, I think Stephanie might have cared about Victor except her loyalties default to Powers. Enter Blight... well if you have seen Batman Beyond you already know who Blight though our heroes have yet to learn it.

A/N 5: Intended/previous mentioned ideas for future updates include chapters involving the Beyond-era Royal Flush Gang (chance of a Selina Kyle cameo... this is an AU crossover story after all), Shriek, of course Blight will be back.


	6. Echoes Inside

Continuity Note: Present: Shriek, Past: Rebirth & For The Man Who Has Everything

* * *

"This company has always meant a great deal to me, but now I'm ashamed of it."

The Board of Directors shifts between unease and irritation by Wayne's latest reappearance since the bio-weapons incident. Some were clearly sharing Wayne's disgust and others wonder why he has taken interest in the company again after almost disappearing permanently into Wayne Manor.

"Ashamed of the way it's forgotten its history, ashamed of how it's going to rip out the heart out of this city."

Wayne scans their faces then glares at Powers in particular.

"I'm referring to a plan by the current leadership of Wayne-Powers …"

He walks steadily towards the center of the outer edge of the half circle conference table as he continues his tirade.

"To purchase Gotham City's Historical District and then bulldoze it to make room for another soulless industrial complex."

He glares at all of them now. The old fire that many would attribute to his younger altruistic endeavors appears to be burning anew.

"Is that what we want or do we want a city that remembers its history?"

He briefly raises his free hand and closes it as if reaffirming old promises made decades ago.

"A city where ideals flow from the past, defining our present and shaping our future," concludes Wayne.

First the only woman on the board starts clapping then others follow suit except Powers and the man to Powers' left who comments in jest about Wayne's commentary.

Wayne tables for a stockholders' meeting to decide the issue.

The Board of Directors casts a vote Four to two, Powers is outnumbered yet appears to conceal an urge to take Wayne down here except it would give his condition away so he remains in his spot having to weather Wayne's confident grin. He had not seen that look on Wayne's face in a long time, but Powers is not done yet.

* * *

Wayne leaves and returns to Terry waiting in the car with Ace.

"How did it go?" asks Terry.

It looks as if Terry could tell it went well considering that Wayne is almost walking with a spring in his step and his pace a little quicker too.

"The way I wanted," remarks Wayne.

The old man felt useful again and somehow he felt like he did owe this change to Terry. He remembers how much he did try to distant himself taking any direct action months when he first met Terry. He knows he simply told the young man to go to Gordon (and leave him out of it without actually saying that), but Powers being the sadistic jackal he was did things that led Terry to 'borrowing' the suit.

"It must have been pretty important to get you out of the house. Especially in daylight hours."

_More than you know Terry, time to really acquaint you with my past._

"I'll show you."

* * *

It is a long yet purpose driven trip for Wayne. Terry does as the old man asks because the visit had sparked curiosity in Terry. He had read about what happen to the Waynes, but it is a different thing entirely to be at the scene, to see where it happened, to walk those streets, to breathe that air, and more. As he drives, he fights back the memory of coming back to his father's apartment to find his mother and the cops there. He figures this could be why Wayne is so adamant about preserving the spot where it happen because it is not enough that he remembers, but that Gotham remembers too. They eventually reach a suitable spot to park and together they get out for a walk.

"The City Council's been trying to preserve this area, but you know what it's like trying to get extra tax money."

The streets are empty, the asphalt is crumbling apart, the sidewalks are barely usable for walking on, and the buildings are holding together even after more than half a century.

"Why spend it on all this?"

Terry looks to Wayne as if almost missing the point.

"I mean, it's old. Who cares?"

"I do."

Wayne looks towards a painfully familiar place ahead of them.

"You see that theater. It was where my parents and I went the night they were –"

* * *

"_All evildoers beware my sword!" laughs Bruce._

"_Slow down Bruce!" chuckles Thomas._

"_Tom, over there!" gasps Martha._

"_Pearls first!" shouts the stranger._

_Bruce stops cold as he sees a real gun barrel up close for the first and not the last time. Thomas Wayne tries to assuage the mugger by handing over his wallet except there is a fumble on the mugger's part. The mugger repeats the request for the pearls, which as Bruce knows his father had given his mother as a gift earlier. Thomas steps between the mugger and Martha except the mugger fires hitting Thomas and he falls to the damp sidewalk. His blood leaks out as Martha screams his name and the mugger grabs the pearls except the necklace breaks so in a blur he also shoots Martha._

_Bruce falls to his kneels expecting to share their fate except the mugger doesn't fire at him. He slips away leaving Bruce there to hold back on tears except he'll start to cry anyway as their blood mixes together with their son's tears.  
_

"_Don't be afraid," mumbles Thomas.

* * *

_

"I'd think you want it to be torn down, so maybe after all these years, you could finally forget."

Wayne even in daylight casts a shadow against the old Monarch Theater. Terry meant well, but the memories are a lot fresher for him whereas Wayne has lived with the memories for more than fifty years.

"Do you want to forget what happened to _your_ father?"

* * *

_He left Wayne Manor and drove back to the city, to his father's place. The cops were outside, there is a crime scene cordon, and so he starts up the stairwell. There is graffiti on the walls, so he picks up the pace, and enters to find his mother there with two patrolmen standing close to the cramped den's doorway. Mary McGinnis wraps her arms around him, her son, but he starts asking haltingly about his father._

_She is almost unable to speak as she starts to cry again. He separates himself from her and plows through the patrolmen. The scene that greets him inside is worse than he could handle yet he manages to howl the word Dad with such anguish as well as anger. His father's body is recognizable yet so lifeless and there is blood on the carpeting. Mary stands in the doorway and helps him to his feet after the body is taken from the room.

* * *

_

Terry snaps out of the flashback as they both hear Ace making noise from the car.

"Something is bugging the mutt."

Terry heads off back in the direction of the car and Wayne resumes his walk only to come across the old GCPD Central. He breaks the wooden lock on the door with ease. It is a combination of age and old agility that he pushes his way inside towards the station sergeant's desk. He travels the corridors like he had done so many times so long ago in the older Batsuits. It felt like the ghosts would always be with him even in these halls. Montoya's desk, Bullock's sandwich wrappers, Allen's coffee mugs, and familiar sights creep up on him as he nears the old MCU department headed up by the first Commissioner Gordon who Wayne had at first called Gordon, then Commissioner, and in later years Jim.

There is an old torn wanted poster for Joker on the walls. He looks away pushing many Joker associated memories away especially the last ones. Everything starts shaking around him. There had not been an earthquake in Gotham despite it being situated close to a fault line and this felt manufactured too precise to be natural. The ceiling starts to cave in so he rolls himself away except one of the nearby pillar is coming apart and almost falls on him except Batman shows up in the nick of time to pull him away from the collapse.

"Earthquake?"

"Not like any I ever been in."

"Well, whatever it is, I can think of better places to be right now."

They had to get out of the building before it caves in on both of them. However a man in a tech suit appears in the doorway. Wayne recognizes the technology as sonic and concludes this must be causing the vibrations that are making the building fall apart around them. Batman pulls them away as a sonic vibration rips through the floor.

"You know this guy?"

"Sorry, not one of mine."

The sonic suit wearer unleashes another discharge so Batman pushes him away and gets up high. Their attacker closes in for the kill presumably yet Batman flings a batarang which destroys the sonic palm that is being aimed at Wayne. The attacker howls in pain then aims at Batman with the still functional sonic palm, which prompts him to return to the floor then get Wayne out quickly. They head out of a window and the attacker disappears by another route presumably. The old GCPD central grumbles into piles of rubble.

* * *

Wayne is unconscious in Batman's arms so he hurries him over to the car. Ace starts barking again except he relents releasing his human companion is hurt badly. He gets Wayne into the car then instructs the autopilot to plot a route to Gotham General. He also activates the opaque setting on the windows so that he can get out of costume before they arrive at the destination. He voice dials Gordon's office number and hopes she is there.

"_Bruce… wasn't expecting your call until later… "_

"Sorry Commissioner, but we have a situation… Mr. Wayne and I were visiting the Historical District. We were attacked and now he is unconscious."

"_What? Geez, McGinnis get him to Gotham General immediately."_

"I am already on my way there. I think the assailant will be back for him, well maybe."

"_I'm sending an escort… you aren't still in the suit are you?"_

"Why else put the car on autopilot?"

"_Right, well just get him there and I'll take care of the rest."_

"Thanks Commissioner."

"_You did good kid… hopefully he'll be more appreciative than grouchy when he wakes up."_

"Hope so."

The call ends and he is out of the suit finally. The police escort shows up as expected so he flips off the opaque setting. The cops hand signal him to follow them so he does just that and they arrive at Gotham General quickly with the cops clearing the path for him.

* * *

"Now, now, Mr. Wayne. You know you have to take your –"

"I said get out!

The nurse screams and a bedpan goes flying out the door, which the hospital security guard barely dodges in time. The plump nurse exits and briefly speaks to Terry in an agitated tone then leaves the general vicinity.

"Can you believe it?"

There is a bandage around Wayne's skull as he glares at Terry.

"They want to keep me here overnight!"

"Why don't you relax and make it a little vacation?"

Terry leans in and lowers his voice before explaining his plan.

"And while you are in here, I'll figure who that guy in the suit was."

Terry picks up a saucer with gelatin on it.

"So you're a detective now?" snaps Wayne.

"Been watching you long enough. Besides I got a lead."

He shows Wayne a sonic palm he had gotten from the rubble at the scene after getting Wayne here. Undoubtedly someone is targeting either Wayne or Batman, in either case Wayne reluctantly will have to allow his protégé to investigate this alone. Terry and Wayne turn to see a different nurse coming into the room with a meal tray. Terry chuckles a little and Wayne smirks a bit too.

"Guess you are in good hands with this Nightingale," suggests Terry.

"Be glad I don't have my cane right now McGinnis," cracks Wayne.

"You can come back tomorrow, right now Mr. Wayne needs to eat and rest," says the new nurse.

Wayne starts eating what the nurse brought him and then she ushers Terry out of the room.

* * *

"I trust he is in good hands with you Nurse…," comments Terry.

"You can trust me Mr. McGinnis," answers the woman.

"Call me Terry… most people do except when there are issues."

She raises an eye brow at him and he conceals puzzlement at her reaction. He heads for the elevator and returns to the car where Ace is waiting for him. She returns to the room to find an orderly changing his head bandage. The man smiles innocuously at her yet there is something about him that bothers her except she allows him to leave since making a scene would only draw too much attention to her self.

* * *

Wayne rouses from his sleep at the sound of voices that he cannot pinpoint, but every time he refuses the voice or voices, his head starts to hurt again. He physically resists the compulsion to do as told to do yet finally he pulls the window open yet resists further then cries out. The plump nurse is back along with orderlies. He struggles as the orderlies hold him down and the nurse injects him with sedative. He is taken to the psych ward.

As for Terry's nicknamed nurse, she stays as close as she can even after the move.

"What happen to Mr. Wayne?"

"He had a fit, said he heard voices, and I had to move him to psych."

"I didn't think his injuries were so severe."

"Head trauma does funny things especially with his age."

"It could be something else."

"You can always check for yourself… though I haven't seen you on this floor before."

"I am a temporary transfer from Metropolis General."

It was her cover story and most had bought it so far. She had not gotten this close for someone to expose her except the plump nurse buys it and returns to her rounds. 'Nightingale' sighs in relief then heads for the Psych Ward to check on Bruce Wayne. She felt certain something else is at work and hopes that Batman is close to finding an answer because she did not want to risk leaving him alone in this place considering that Powers is infrequently dropping by with claims that he is only checking up on Wayne.

* * *

At first the Batcomputer is unresponsive to his inquiries about the device then it asks him what he needs on the device. He follows its suggestion and asks for the spectrograph analysis, which reveals the device's metallurgical makeup. He only recognizes some of the alloys except the last one.

"Computer: Acostium?" asks Terry.

The readout thus far only proves that Terry's hunch about the sonic device is proving to be accurate so he opts for a disguise in order to get closer to the company responsible for manufacturing it.

* * *

Shreeve arrives and Terry gains access posing a pizza delivery guy who had come to the 'wrong' address. Together they split the pizza and talk about sounds in general at least until Terry mentions vibrations. Shreeve attempts to pin except again Terry finds he is able to break Shreeve's grip on him just like he had done with Nash the day after his father was killed by Fixx.

"There's no way out…" shouts Shreeve.

Terry gives him a run around by going behind all the larger equipment in the lab before coming back around to grab another sonic device and notes that Shreeve is the one that went after Wayne. The suit looks identical and fits with Shreeve's area of expertise. He uses the device to make a breach in the wall though Shreeve gives chase until the police hovercrafts distract him enabling Terry to slip away.

Terry heads back to the hospital after recovering his regular shirt and brown coat then goes back to the hospital.

_Shreeve will probably find a way to get to Wayne in here, have to get to him first… can't let him down or die… not like Dad.

* * *

_

The door to Wayne's room is open as Terry approaches it and the first nurse he saw earlier is back.

"What happened? Is he alright?!"

Her expression is unsettling to Terry.

"He's in the Psych Ward. He started hearing voices."

"Voices?"

Terry hears the familiar sneer of Powers' voice coming from the doorway.

"Age can do tragic things to a person, but I wouldn't worry about it."

Powers walks towards him after parting his crossed arms.

"He's going to be in the best of hands -- Mine."

_I knew you were behind this. Somebody like Shreeve wouldn't just do something like that alone._

"Who else can take care of his affairs? He has no wife, no children."

"Me, I could do it."

_You aren't getting away with this, not like you did with Dad, Harry Tully, and heaven knows who else you have killed in the past._

"Awfully young aren't you?"

"Awfully slimy aren't you?"

_Somebody has to stick to you, might as well be me, even if it is the last thing I do._

"Careful. The courts are very strict about slander."

"Yeah? Well, let's see how see how they handle assault."

Terry lunges and grabs Powers by his costly dark suit. The orderlies however pry him off the older Powers.

"You should know something about the Psych Ward here. There's always room for one more."

Powers leaves and eventually the orderlies release him. He still had to get to Wayne somehow otherwise Shreeve would kill him despite the fact that Terry had already told Gordon about his encounter with Shreeve. He doesn't want to leave her out of the loop, but he had to act now.  


* * *

Wayne is in a padded room. White walls, only a tiny window to the outside, but at least he had not heard the voices in hours. He takes the tray off the food pallet and for once he actually did want to eat instead of badger about being in a hospital until he raises the sandwich to his mouth.

"_**The food, it is poison."**_

He looks around still nothing.

"_**They're trying to kill you."**_

"Shut up!"

He shakes his head and attempts to resist like before.

"_Don't eat, don't eat. Don't eat."_

He glares at the sandwich and begins to wonder what is causing these auditory hallucinations. However the noise isn't going away and it is messing with his concentration despite having spent decades training his body as well as his mind against things like this.

"_**Don't eat."**_

"Quiet! Quiet."

Batman comes in through the barred window to the outside.

"I have been hearing voices."

"I know."

Wayne demands he check the light fixture. Nothing in there so then he tells him to strip the wall except Batman tears off the head bandage instead of stripping the walls.

"Such a big bandage for such a small wound."

Wayne looks down at the device on the back side of the bandage.

"It is a two-way radio. Guy named Shreeve makes them."

Batman reveals that he had indeed found the perp responsible for knocking down the old GCPD Central.

"He probably bribed a nurse to put that thing in the bandage. Still think I am crazy?"

Batman smiles back at him before answering him.

"It never occurred to me."

* * *

Batman shows the device to the Ward Nurse and she summons the doctor to inform him of the discovery. They decide to release Wayne to Batman so that he could go home. Together they walk out to the Batmobile where Ace is waiting for them. Ace perks up and lays his front paws against Wayne's dark blue shirt.

"Miss me boy?" asks Wayne affectionately.

"He wasn't the only one," continues Batman.

Wayne joins Ace in the Batmobile and so the two remain hidden while Batman goes off to track down the signal source from the radio. As Batman takes off he spots, the attractive 'nurse' from earlier standing atop the hospital except she had undone the bun that she had her hair in and taken off the glasses she had been wearing too.

_Who is she?

* * *

_

Wayne directs Batman from the Batmobile and sure enough Shreeve is a lot closer than they thought.

"It looks like the radio signal is coming from that factory by the hospital."

"_And from there, I've got a feeling it's going to lead to Powers."_

"Doesn't take a Detective to figure that one out."

Batman takes off again to enter the factory, which turns out to be a hover car manufacturing plant incidentally.

"Yeah, the source is definitely in here somewhere."

Batman twitches when he spots Shreeve's suit.

"_**Not somewhere, right behind you."**_

He can hear the palms powering up.

"You don't have to do this, Shreeve."

"_**But I do."**_

The voice distorter would make Shreeve's voice unrecognizable yet Batman had already taken up a voice disguising habit of his own.

"_**And the name is Shriek now. I'll show you why."**_

_First Powers… then Willie… then the Trio… add in Freeze and now 'Shriek'. Wayne how did you ever put up with such theatrics… sure he is not one of yours since he is becoming one of mine instead._

Batman dodges away and turns on all the assembly lines except Shriek counters by using a sound nullifier, which Batman had seen at Shreeve's lab earlier.

_Perfect he is using that sound dampener or nullifier, but what if he could filter only specific sounds._

Batman ducks under the engine carrier then slides beneath the door welders before leaping over the seat handlers. Shriek closes the distance except Batman jumps before the blast breaks the wall. He vaults through the breach and Shriek follows him out. Shriek repeatedly directs vibrations to obliterate his target, but keeps missing as Batman keeps ahead of the blasts.

* * *

"Kind of quiet out there, huh, boy?"

Ace looks around as if searching for something.

"But you hear something don't you?"

Wayne lets Ace out of the car and the canine from there jumps onto Batman. The jump push keeps him from being hit by an oncoming tractor trailer. Shriek crosses the street yet Ace's save had given Batman the heads up to use a glowing batarang. He flicks it so precisely that it disables and shocks Shriek as all the sounds come flooding back to the man who thought he had mastery of sound. If one could imagine suddenly not hearing everything and imagine what hearing everything all at once after experiencing almost complete silence then they might grasp Shriek's agony.

Shriek starts howling in pain as the noise is too much for him. Batman pulls the helmet off and it appears clear that Shriek… that Shreeve is now deaf.

"No!! NO !!!"

* * *

Wayne and Terry have front row seats for Powers' latest 'fail' as Terry put it on the way over to the meeting. Wayne felt deserving of a lasting grin for a change and Terry is glad to see such a look on his boss' face for a change. The Historical District would remain intact and for yet another time in decades Wayne had kept the past fresh in mind just as he had done when Daggett tried to demolish Crime Alley long ago except as Batman he had put a stop to it.

"It has been moved and seconded that Wayne-Powers tender an offer to the city in order to expand into the Historical District," declares Powers.

"All in favor?"

A handful of 'aye' follows the query.

"All opposed?"

A collective almost roar of 'nay' follows Power's hesitation to ask for a response.

"The motion is defeated," grunts Powers.

The gavel lands hard and Powers motions to dismiss the crowd.

"Too bad Shreeve is too freaked out to testify against that weasel," retorts Terry.

"Maybe when his hearing comes back, if it ever does," sighs Wayne.

"Tell me something. Why were you so sure those voices weren't coming from you?"

* * *

She unknown to them is still watching from a distance whilst lip reading their words.

* * *

"Well, first, I know I'm not psychotic," assures Wayne.

"I hope your other reason is more convincing," remarks Terry.

* * *

She smiles knowingly at Wayne's words and wonders if Terry finds his answers amusing.

"And second, the voice kept calling me Bruce. In my mind, that's not what I call myself."

"What do you call yourself?" probes Terry.

Wayne looks back at him and lets his demeanor answer for him.

"Oh, yeah I suppose you would," responds Terry.

Wayne smirks as if sensing subtle shift in his protégé's voice.

".. But that's my name now," continues Batman.

Wayne in a steady walk heads out of the auditorium with Terry standing still behind him.

"Hmm, tell that to my subconscious," cracks Wayne.

He follows after looking rather perplexed for a moment, but of course he is dealing with Batman. Wayne might not dress like Batman anymore yet his mind still operates at times like Batman. Terry knows he is merely stepping into the legacy and legend of Gotham's Dark Knight yet the two Bats are more than just echoes of each other.

She could see that even from here. It had given her cause to smile again before she departs Gotham knowing that she would be back someday because of Batman, past and present.  


* * *

A/N 1: Writing a spin on Shriek took longer than I thought only because I had a couple different ideas on how to do it since the story itself weighs in on certain memories for both Bruce and Terry. Both have murders in their genesis to becoming Batman.

A/N 2: As such both recall in this version, the murder scenes because neither can truly forget nor should they because it is part of why they do what they do through Batman.

A/N 3: As for 'Nightingale', her identity is not hard to guess, but I was somewhat mysterious about it on purpose.


	7. In The Cards

The Walkers were going back to Gotham. She had never been to Gotham aside from her father's stories about it and her mentor's tales about its more colorful characters including someone the mentor held in great affection. She had met her mentor through her mother as the mentor and her mother had met decades ago before her mother had become the matriarch of the Walker Family, but of course in the past her grandfather had been the patriarch or head of the family business. Mother always secretly went on about how in retrospect Grandfather was a better family head than Father. She never understood for a long time why family politics were such a big deal to her parents, but her father always would look as if he were competing with ghosts like his late father-in-law, her grandfather.

She could never quite figure how her parents got together either even though he had in the past been the same position that her brother holds now and she held a position that had undergone changes in regards to the purpose that it serves for the Family. She was taught Family history as well as the origins of the Family's alter-ego the Royal Flush Gang as well as about its recurring Gotham nemesis Batman, but she never really took to it except when she did not want to be left out or separate from her family. They were the only family she had no matter how dysfunctional it would look when she saw other families everywhere they went as they would never stay anywhere for too long and her father finally had chosen to return to Gotham.

There are rumors about a new Batman that had shown up decades after the first one went to ground or into retirement. Batman was always about as real to her as being the persona that answered to 'Ten', but what else could be more strange than her dressing like a playing card, she had only look to the Family muscle, the robot called Ace. She could find next to nothing about any prior members of the Gang that would answer to the name Ace, but it took some doing even to find out if there were really any prior Aces to track down. The search turns out to be futile as the apparent First Royal Gang members were metahumans, but none of the current members including herself were even slightly meta as far as she knew though to her being just Melanie was hard enough at times.

* * *

Other families had homes, her family had heists, other families took vacations, her family took valuables, other families were affectionate, but hers was always aggressive aside from a deep sense of loyalty, not love. Loyalty to the principles of an autonomous crime family, but the one she had craved for most of her life was the one thing that none of the family had given her save for her brother at times. She could survive intermittently on Jack's irregular brotherly affections yet there remains a void in her life that not even 'Ten' would ever fill for her.

Loyalty to family won her praise until the pressure of the next job would be on them.

* * *

She had let her hair grow out at her mentor's suggestion though of course she could tell that her mentor had definitely been a woman of allure and charm in her time yet had through the decades kept exuding what made her a femme fatale. Melanie did not really get the idea until her mentor made a point of showing her various costumes she had worn over the years while conducting her own solo heists and in later years how she fought along side Gotham's original Dark Knight.

Selina Kyle had put a different spin on Gotham for Melanie, which made all the difference so she no longer resents moving around much, she only yearns to make a life somewhere without following the Family's fixations or obsessions. She had kept with the Family this long because she did not know where else to go or how to strike out on her own without them coming after her, but her mentor's past had given her something to press on for, the day when she could try to leave 'Ten' behind her.

Her first Gotham 'job' begins this afternoon so it is time to suit up like the others except Ace who is always ready for action by virtue of being a machine. The latest outfits were remade in an effort to enhance physical strength and stamina, but the trade off is that they will be relying on a cybernetic hookup to flying cards to act as transportation to the 'job' site. The job is a yacht out in Gotham Bay Harbor is the place and the heist payday is stealing from the passengers.

The new suit is skin tight, which makes it hug her curves and for a few minutes she is admiring how comfortable it feels on her until her mother walks in wondering why she is not out on the roof with the others presently. She quickly ties back her flowing hair though it takes a little longer than usual with her current hair length and lastly she tugs on the mask. Melanie Walker is again just a name for a street wandering blond that nobody appears to care about except maybe herself when her own emotions and thoughts are not getting the better of her.

The Royal Flush Gang is set to attack a yacht out in Gotham Bay Harbor. They had no idea that somebody was watching them.

King leads the charge. The first to fall is sent falling off the side of the yacht as Ace knocks the gunman towards the water. Queen zaps a female counterpart to the gunman with her staff. 'Ten' lands not noticing that a third guard had her in his sights if not for Jack tossing his dagger knocking the gun from the man's hand. 'Ten' plays off the guard's gaze latching on to Jack just so she can "repay" the guard for his attempt to shoot her. He joins the first gunman in the harbor waters.

'Ten' watches King land and heads toward presumably the yacht's owner.

"Mine is bigger than yours," taunts the Captain.

"All the money in the world and not an ounce of refinement," retorts 'King'.

He tosses a seemingly ordinary card at the captain. The card releases a potent knockout gas, which leaves the foolish man out cold on the deck.

"Your jewels and watches please turn them over to us…" implores 'King'.

'Ten' holds out the bag for the passengers who hand off whatever they can bring themselves to part with, at least the goods that everyone can see outwardly.

"No cheap heroics," adds 'King'.

A platinum blonde in a flowing white dress with a diamond necklace is pleading with 'Ten' and Jack to let her keep her necklace.

"C'mon on you will have another one soon enough and you won't have to steal it," says 'Ten'

"She earns hers the old fashion way," chuckles 'Jack'.

The blonde woman is still reluctant to part with it and then a laser shot sends the dagger away from Jack's hand much to his surprise. Jack is sent flying across the deck only seconds later when an almost entirely black blur smashes into him. The new arrival is exactly who King had been expecting to show. Ace grabs the flying man by the neck and smashes him into the wall behind 'him'. However Ace is soon seen flying off the upper deck to the lower where the rest of the Gang is along with the passengers.

Batman drops in after Ace.

"Time to go I say," suggests 'Queen'.

"Sorry darling, but this is why I came back to Gotham," rebukes 'King'.

King's first play is throwing something that binds up Batman except the new Batman is proving to be quite agile to say the least as he flips upward then breaks out of the trap and sails back down to chest kick King across the lower deck. Queen sensing it is better to perhaps make an exit slips away and hits the power box with her staff. Below decks the hydro-dynamos start erupting in flames.

"Who is it going to be my husband or all these passengers?"

'Ten' notices Batman instead turns his attention to the passengers. The gang uses the opening to slip away. Queen did the smart thing thought 'Ten', but King is hiding frustration, she could see in his scowl as they took flight. 'Ten' briefly diverts her eyes below to see Batman holding the platinum blonde up by her wrists only a couple feet above the water. The blonde is back on deck in mere seconds then joins the others fleeing the yacht in the lifeboats. They had their heist, but it felt as pointless as usual to 'Ten'.

The only attention grabber is this Batman and she had to wonder just a little about who is behind that mask. His physique suggests he is not that old either, which meant this is probably not the same Batman that her father went up against decades ago. Somebody had taken his place and once more another Batman crosses paths with another Royal Flush Gang. Unnecessary risks had come to mind as they were flying off to the hotel they were using as a hideout here in Gotham.

* * *

Once back at the hideout, 'Ten' slips out of costume, packs it away, and changes into her usual look with a few exceptions. First she applies dark lipstick, slides on a dark sweater, an equally dark skirt, white tights, and black boots. She makes a point of trying to get out of the penthouse suite without being seen. It works and soon she is prowling the streets. Her direction eventually leads her to the exteriors of a place known as Juice Bar 12, a hangout for teenagers from looks of it, but part of her doesn't want to go in there.

She looks like just another teenage girl, but she is far from feeling too much like one. The ledge outside the window that covers the exterior is not as cold as it looks, but she feels even more alone out here than she did back at the hotel or anywhere the family had been through in recent years. Time flows around her, the sky grows darker, the city grows brighter, the neon signs look like all other neon signs she had seen across the cities of years prior, everything stays the same except her. She gets a little older, a bit slower, a touch lonelier, and starts to regret making this walkabout while looking ready for a night on the town.

She sees this dark haired girl dancing alone yet looking like she could be having a good night in comparison to the way it feels out here to Melanie. She couldn't hear through windows or over the music yet a rather cute looking guy is approaching the dancing girl. He announces his presence to her, she walks away, he is trying to explain his lateness probably, she is not taking to it, he keeps up his words, but soon he knows it there is nothing left to say or do except walk away. As he leaves, she catches sight of confusion, heartache, and regret in the girl's eyes though Melanie wonders if she is just imagining it or perhaps imposing how she would react in that type of situation.

The guy is exiting the bar looking like his heart had taken a beating. Shoulders hanging low, head looking towards the sidewalk, not quite beat, but struggling to hold onto something type of peddling of his feet. She considers talking to him. He looks like he could use company, but then no idea to know how serious he and that girl were or are still. Anything beats freezing her buns off on this window sill.

"Big fight?" whispers Melanie.

His eyes slowly work their way looking for a face to the sound of her voice. It felt affectionate having a boy look at her this way for the first time in years. Melanie starts to think that girl will realize her mistake by later tonight, by tomorrow, or maybe never. Whatever the case, the girl made a mistake, sure he might not always live up to expectations, but what he does must count for something right. She lifts her hips off the sill before saying anything more.

"I was watching," continues Melanie.

He remains motionless as she crosses the distance and comes under the street lights. Melanie tries to keep from blushing too much, but damn those eyes of his. He is more than just cute, he is adorable, he has her almost stumbling for words, and so they start to walk close to each other. There is no direction together they almost aimlessly wander the streets of Gotham, just the two of them. The more time she spends near him, the more she feels like coming Gotham is a through and through mistake, because it brought her to him.

_You don't even know his name yet and you already thinking how it tastes to… get a grip Melanie._

"I have got this after school job. It is takes up a lot my time…**too much**."

"Maybe you should ask your boss for more time off."

"Not this guy… him you don't ask for time off."

"So what kind after school job is it anyway?"

Melanie wraps her fingers around a street lamppost then swerves her hips as if making a slight dance or twirl out of it.

"Well I do errands… sort of…kind of hard to describe."

_He is telling the truth… not all of it… but more than my parents… if I call them my parents really._

"What about you? What were you doing out there? Why didn't you go in?"

_He's been more honest than I would expect might as well give the same._

"Didn't know anyone," sighs Melanie.

"New in town?" comments the boy.

"Perpetually… my parents move around a lot."

Melanie steps away from the lamppost then presses her hands against the railing along the walkway.

"At least you get to see the world."

"See world, yes, be a part of it, no. No friends… no…"

She shifts from leaning on her hands to leaning on her forearms while tilting her head to one side.

"You know what it is like being uprooted every few weeks? Never quite knowing what is going to happen next?" continues Melanie.

_He is still here. He is actually listening to me._

"I'm beginning to get a feeling what that is like."

Melanie moves closer to him.

"Two of a kind we are. I'm Melanie by the way… Melanie Walker."

_Those eyes of yours again so inviting, so close, who are you?_

"Terry… Terry McGinnis."

Melanie feels a smile creeping across her face and then she moves in for the kiss that he does not see coming until their lips make contact. They are both enjoying it, at least the sound he is making tells her that much, but then he pushes away from her.

"What's wrong?" asks Melanie.

"Nothing… just kind of quick," answers Terry.

"Now or never," responds Melanie.

"Ever consider a later?"

"How much later?" teases Melanie.

"Tomorrow night?" says Terry.

"That would be great."

"Where can I pick you up?"

"Better not… why don't we meet right here at midnight under the big clock?" suggests Melanie.

"I'll be here," assures Terry.

He leans down slightly, she kisses him on the cheek, she walks way smiling then turns her face away towards a gathering miss, and for once in a long time she feels giddy enough to run as if to make the time between now and tomorrow pass faster. Run so that every minute puts her closer to being in his arms again instead of flying off to another heist though knowing her parents they were cooking up something already, something that would cross their paths with the new Batman again.

* * *

"When I was your age, he broke up this gang for awhile. He outsmarted us, humiliated us, and I have been waiting years to pay him back," says 'King'.

"Ah, the old _**revenge game**_… so tell me something Sire, how that makes us any richer?" quips 'Jack'.

King smacks Jack hard across the face, which sends the younger man sprawling to the ground bleeding from his lower lip. Queen moves not at all and the robot Ace per programming just remains motionless aside from weathering a slash across the chest plate only moments earlier during a fencing match with Jack.

"All we have got to start planning the next one… where's Ten?" continues 'King'.

The door creeps open behind the four of five members present in the sitting room.

"Right here," answers 'Ten'.

_I heard enough to know why we really here in Gotham, but as usual I'll probably end up playing along so I can still get to Terry after we are done with this new one._

The plans are drawn up and as usual 'Ten' is given the task of handling the security systems that would upset the theft. The chosen item is a rather exquisite sword that dates back centuries. The gang moves out to the site by the cover of dark and 'Ten' sets to work on the security grid. She deftly handles the wire cutters, but even so she periodically checks her built-in digital watch.

_Less than an hour until I am suppose to see him. Focus on the job otherwise this is all for nothing and that I might miss seeing him altogether when the parents are done lecturing me._

"Alarms are off," remarks 'Ten'.

"You are sure?" probes 'King'.

"I am sure. Now can we get this over with?" sighs 'Ten'.

She realizes she did little to disguise her disdain for their family lifestyle, but then often it is hard to escape the want of approval, love, and understanding from parents even when your parents have criminal records. Jack quickly moves out of Ace's path to avoid the toss to follow the robot ripping the dome off the roof that is directly over the sword. Four of five descend leaving Ace on the roof. Once on the floor King nears the sword except security guards emerge from behind the pillars that surround the sword's pedestal.

"Hold it right there!"

The four back towards the pedestal.

"All the time in the world," snorts 'King'.

'Ten' shows genuine surprise that somehow security still got to them even after she cut the wires, which either meant she made a mistake or somebody told them to be on the lookout for a gang of thieves that look like playing cards.

Ace lands his flying card directly on the guards nearest to 'Ten' while Queen blasts the trio close to her. The flash knocks them out. Ace flies out subduing a contingent of guards while the rest follow on their cards. They cross several rooms before something shoots across at waist level for most of them. Ace falls first while the rest follow suit. King, Queen, and Jack all hit the floor yet 'Ten' bounces off the backside of the robot Ace.

The five get to their feet as Batman lands opposite them.

"You don't look Royal now," cracks Batman.

Ace charges towards Batman yet Batman gets around it then launches another cord that binds the robot to one of the red pillars in the room. Queen blasts Batman from behind then Jack follows up by kicking him as a return for what happen on the yacht. Queen shoots at him again except Batman uses a shield to redirect the charge back at Jack, which sends him sliding across the room. Batman continues to regain the offensive by hitting Queen with the shield, which knocks her out cold. King looks to Ace and realizes with three out of five down that means the attack falls to her.

She circles to the left, Batman circles to the right, she looks down at her watch, and midnight is less than half an hour away now. Batman appears to notice her looking at wrist yet does not appear to make anything of it or so she thinks as she charges toward him. Neither his blows nor hers connect at first, but then while he holds back her hand while ready to strike with his right, he stops in mid swing.

_You didn't break a sweat over the robot. You took both Queen's and Jack's attacks in stride, but now you are holding back on me… why… why are you? Your hesitation is my opening, and my path to Terry._

Batman stumbles back and another security guard appears yet Jack takes the new guy hostage while Batman reciprocally gets 'Ten' in a headlock.

"It appears we have been dealt a wild card. If you value his safety, you will not follow," implores King.

Batman releases 'Ten' and she exhales sharply while realizing that her mentor's training had only taught her how to fight the original Batman to a standstill yet the new one fights in a way completely separate from his predecessor. This only further proves that she is dealing with a younger man yet like the first one, he is often beset or held up by his own rules. A window is broken and the five take flight with their hostage. Ten knows Batman will follow because like the blonde on the ship, he would not allow the guard to come to harm if he could prevent it yet King orders Jack to drop the guard to get Batman off their trail.

"You can't do that!" snips 'Ten'.

"Of course I can," rebukes King.

King looks back to Jack and repeats his order so Jack follows the command. Batman nosedives after the falling guard and closes up his wings to accelerate his free fall. Batman turns to cause his body brace the fall through the glass ceiling. 'Ten' watches almost in horror before hearing King's voice again along with the tip of the stolen blade in her face.

"Don't ever argue with me again!" growls King lowly.

* * *

The chase had taken almost half an hour and once back at the hideout. 'Ten' gets out of costume and slips into her street look. She races through the streets as fast as her legs can carry, but a rain storm was already beginning by the time they were flying back to the hotel. She could hear King and Queen aka Dad and Mom arguing as she left. The fact that King had almost put a sword to her throat did not go over well with Queen and it deeply disturbs Melanie as well. Jack also appears to have misgivings, but he like she did not relish the idea of going to prison just so they could win the affections or respect of their parents.

The dampness of her clothes does not deter her, but she wonders if Terry had given up waiting for her as she notices that is way after midnight now. She sees the outline of a guy's frame in the distance so she forces herself to run a little farther even she felt wetter than she ever felt yet if it is who she believes it is, it was worth soaking in a rain storm for him. The guy bends over banging his hand against the pole yet at the sound of sloshing water he turns around.

_It is you. You look as wet as me. You did come, you did wait, I am coming Terry, and I am here._

She almost leaps into his arms and he picks her up then does a slight spin before setting her back down. They embrace as the rain continues to soak their already drenched clothing. They didn't care so much about the rain and their lips met full force even with rain drops streaming down their faces, one might almost make the raindrops for tears. In one way they could have been and Melanie did not want to dare consider the opposite meaning of a dreary rain storm while kissing him.

After awhile they search for an overhang to wait out the storm under. He offers her his dark brown jacket and she takes it. It feels warm though not as warm as him and she lays her head against him while he strokes her hair. She longs to stay in this moment forever instead of having to go back to her family and their thief lifestyle. Unlike their first encounter, she remains with him throughout the early hours of the day and they part affectionately with plans to meet up again tonight, then she would break from them or so she would hope to do so.

* * *

"How many times do I have to tell you? There is no room for mistakes in this business!" fumes King.

_Mistakes yes, but not necessarily mine!_

"You have to keep focus!" reminds 'King'.

"You haven't!" snaps Melanie.

"What?" quips 'King'.

"This thing you have got for Batman. You are making us take stupid risks!" pips Melanie.

Melanie gets to her feet knowing it is time for her to leave them.

"It is going to get us nailed!" continues Melanie.

"Nobody disrespects me or this family! Not for long anyway." retorts King.

A moment's silence and nobody moves a muscle.

"If you can't get behind that, you might as well leave," suggests King.

"Amen to that," agrees Melanie.

Melanie heads straight for the elevator not caring if anyone dares to stop her be it Jack or 'Queen'.

"Ten… _**Melanie**_… your father has taken good care of us. He is always going to do so," reminds 'Queen'.

_What about when we go to jail? What if one of us gets badly hurt or worse dies? Is staying worth suffering or dying? Perhaps I should tell you part of why I dare to leave all this._

"Why would you want to throw that away?" asks Queen.

"A boy."

"Love… great…"

Melanie just stands there listening to 'Queen's' talk on the subject of love and men.

"Men come and go. Most of them cause nothing, but trouble. Some of them are worth it, but not one is worth the sacrifice you are about to make," implies 'Queen'.

"You don't know this boy," refutes Melanie.

"You didn't see fit to introduce us to him. That's because you knew he wouldn't fit it in right?"

The elevator doors open to a darkened elevator car.

"Someday the right one will come along. One that will fit it in, he'll be your King, and you'll have all the money you want... all the trinkets… the very finest life can offer, but only if you stick with this family," assures 'Queen'.

Melanie looks down torn between her so-called mother's promises and a boy who could free her from the grip that being a Walker has on her. She looks up, the doors close, and now she must face the phone that sits idly by in her bedroom along with Terry's jacket. She find some way to return to him despite the memories it had with it for her and his smell still lingers on it. She swore she would leave the family because it is no future for her no matter what her mother told her. Still Selina told her once the hardest decisions in life usually turn one of two ways, habit or change, something in her pull towards habit instead of change despite what change could mean for her.

* * *

She slowly inputs the numbers for Terry's cell phone. It starts to ring, it does not even take one ring, she hears the flick of him opening the phone, and the hope in his voice.

"_Melanie?"_

"Terry, I can't see you tonight."

Her thoughts draw upon memories of kisses including the first that she made after exchanging names.

"_Something come up? Schoolwork?"_

"No."

She had secrets and so did he, but when they were together it could stop mattering until parting ways.

"_Then what is it?"_

"I… I can't see… see you again. Ever."

He had become a way out and she is shutting the door on him though he is sticking his foot out.

"_What? Why?"_

He is not letting her go, she feels terrible, but she had made her decision now she had to live with it.

"Because it wouldn't work out. I gotta go now."

"_Melanie, there's something wrong isn't there?"_

Her eyes feel watery. She felt awful lying to him.

"_Tell me!"_

"There's nothing wrong. Goodbye Terry."

She covers her mouth and cries her eyes too almost red.

"What have I done?" whispers Melanie.

"The right thing," murmurs 'Queen'.

"You were listening!" hisses Melanie.

"Why are you so defensive? I was doing what was best for you!" rebukes 'Queen'.

"For me or for the Family?" quips Melanie.

"We have another heist to handle… get ready now!" orders 'King'.

She suits up reluctantly yet before pulling on the mask she inhales Terry's lingering scent from his jacket.

* * *

"We did it! Cash cards! Plastic gold!" exclaims Jack.

He throws a pile into the air and one thuds against 'Ten's head yet she makes no reaction except to look almost indifferent.

"Now I can actually buy some diamonds… What's wrong you look almost disappointed?" says 'Queen'.

"No Batman… and I had a special card just for him," says 'King'.

There is a card shaped scorch market on the green carpeting of the hotel suite.

"We have had a visitor," comments 'Jack'.

"Spread out," orders King.

'Ten' is about to follow along until King speaks directly to her.

"You stay here!" suggests 'King'.

She stays put and starts to think Batman probably found a way to track them instead of waiting for them at potential heist locations.

'Queen' disappears into one of the bedrooms and nobody hears from her after a few minutes. Next Jack takes a door to the face and is out cold on the upper level of the suite. Ace can be heard brawling with someone until there is a muffled explosion. He is either offline or down the laundry chute.

Ten stands in the moonlit sitting room whilst not moving an inch. She hears a familiar switch whirl and Batman is again stopping before going after her.

She couldn't say, but with her expression she tries to plead him to get out before its too late. She steps to the side and then 'King' chucks the Black Skull card at Batman. It explodes before touching him and he is sent flying out the window ahead of the fireball. King takes off immediately to see what happen to Batman post-blast and of course he is flying yet King slices off part of the retractable wings. Batman counters by firing a grapple hook from the Batsuit's sleeve, which punches through the card. Both crash into a nearby rooftop as 'Ten' follows from above.

"What are you waiting for 'Ten?' quips 'King'

She flies closer not wanting to freeze like she had done twice already in the past few days.

"Come get me!" demands 'King'

'Ten' flies toward the roof unaware of a police officer coming out from behind the door behind 'King' and Batman. Batman looks like he is pleading to her with his expression like she had done to him only moments early, but why, why would he care to do that for her. She remembers her mentor's tales about the heart of Batman and how Batman had saved her mentor's life several times over the years though she never really got the chance to repay the favor.

The officer fires, her flying card disintegrates under her and she falls with the thought that death might be preferable to life after breaking one boy's giving heart and one family's continuous disappointment. She hears the sound of rockets and feels an arm catching her by the waist then pulling her up to a nearby structure, which turns out to be the clock tower where she had her first heart to heart with Terry.

"I don't suppose I can convince you to let me go," says 'Ten'.

Batman's silence is telling and only broken by the sirens as the cops surround their location. She closes her eyes and presses her hand against the red Bat emblem on his chest. His heartbeat felt steady yet quick. Dawn is not far off so he takes down where the cops are already searching for the other family members. It is a long look between them before the cops come to take her away from him.

"You could have just gone before all this happen you know?" says Batman.

"I already broke one promise tonight. I was not about to break another," replies 'Ten'.

"Family is about more than promises or loyalty… so is love," continues Batman.

"How would you know?" asks 'Ten'.

"I see it in your eyes," answers Batman.

"Seeing is one thing, doing is another."

"Yes that's true too… sometimes late is better than never."

Two officers come for 'Ten' and when she looks back one more time… Batman is gone, just like Terry, but she left Terry. However Batman never left her, not even now because she had things to think over even if when it means going to jail.

* * *

The Royal Flush Gang sans costume with the exception of Ace are led towards a police detainment transport. First in is King, then Queen, then Ace, then Jack, and lastly her…. Melanie Walker aka 'Ten'.

She felt the strangest thing just before crossing into the interior of the transport. There is someone watching her that weren't the cops and she looks towards a partial frame hanging out from an alleyway across the street. It is Terry wearing his dark brown jacket yet she had no idea how he had gotten back since she had not gotten around to doing it especially now in police custody as an accomplice in at least three robberies in Gotham City.

She wonders how he knew where to go in order to arrive here at this exact moment, but maybe Batman had something to do with that happenstance. She feels the jab of a police issue rifle nudging her so she keeps walking and sits down next to Jack and Ace while King and Queen sit opposite them. They were together in this yet her mind ponders the possibilities of what could have happen if she had gone with her feelings instead of her mother's promises. Such is regret she thought to herself and remains silent throughout the ride.

_I don't need money, trinkets, or the finest things in life. I don't need a king. I need all the things you have never given me or shown me…. I need what I have given away to keep you happy!

* * *

_

Terry found his jacket exactly where Melanie left it. She had a chance to change her life, but then Terry had taken years to find his way, the only 'things' that did the push for him was what happen in the past few months including his 'after school job'.

* * *

Melanie receives an unexpected visitor several weeks later.

"Hello Melanie," says Selina.

"How did you know I was here?" asks Melanie.

"News story of the week and there hasn't been a Royal Flush Gang story in decades."

"There is more to it than that. Isn't there?"

"You are starting to sound like…"

"Batman, right?"

"You are learning… so anything interesting happen before you got here?"

"I thought I was in love with a boy named Terry."

"A girl or a woman never stops loving a man just because she or he breaks it off."

"If you are going to say what I think you are going to say… save it."

"I won't quote clichés on you, but remember… the heart is a fragile thing…its breakable."

"You'd think he would forgive me, let me back in?"

"Never know until you try… but if he does it won't be easy… I had the same problem long time ago."

"Stubborn guy?"

"You wouldn't believe, but stubbornness like any quality has dual sides."

"Thanks for coming."

"For you my protégé… my legacy as a femme fatale… I would do anything even at my age."

Selina is slow to leave and Melanie watches her go knowing that she did not want to end up alone like Selina, but then Selina had told her about how things did work between her and her Batman's alter ego for a time. Any time is better than none especially when it comes to a love like that even though you'll long for it once it feels lost to you. She would not promise herself to let that happen, but then nobody can control hearts or what they feel, even hers or by her.

* * *

A/N 1: **Dead Man's Hand** is mostly seen from Terry's/Batman's POV. This version is still Dead Man's Hand except more from Melanie's/Ten's POV. Certain moments inevitably overlap such as the heists and the late hour romance moments. I wrote a few different beginnings for this. I chose to focus on her thinking on leaving and how meeting Terry drove her to almost do it until that conversation with 'Queen'.

A/N 2: **Dead Man's Hand** is the first of three appearances for Melanie. She only reappears as Ten again during **Once Burned**, which is the next time she is seen after **Dead Man's Hand**. She fully left Ten Behind after Once Burned and is seen working at a restaurant during **King's Ransom**.

A/N 3: As for Terry's and Batman's part in this, she thinks of them separate people, but some of what she thinks of Batman's behavior indicates she's baffled by his hesitation. Terry realizes that Melanie and Ten are the same girl when he goes to the hotel suite. It is implied later during the events of **King's Ransom**, she remains unaware of the duality and takes Batman's response about her note to Terry to mean that Terry doesn't want her anymore. In reality Terry never read the note after the events of **Once Burned**.

A/N 4: As for Selina's appearance towards the end, its been often implied in a few episodes that 'modern medicine' has led to healthy longevity without the side effects of a Lazarus Pit if one is to take the future Virgil Hawkins at his words during the events of **Once and Future Thing**. Further Melanie is a blond not unlike Selina was during her appearances in BtAS.


	8. Mind Games

He chose them because he could use them. He chose them because he had grown tired of listening and patience is no longer useful to him, but then he was not the first man of science to manipulate others.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic - which is exactly what he had in the palm of his hand - literally.

He smiles broadly from behind the mask of his disguise and as this identity he becomes more than just a man of science.

His services would no longer be free of charge - the price this time would be more than his patients could imagine in this reality.

* * *

"You're sure you don't want me to walk you home?" asks Rick.

"It's only 3 houses away Rick," reminds Chelsea.

Chelsea looks to be giving her latest boy toy a good night kiss.

"Besides Daddy's probably home from gun practice by now," Chelsea adds.

"Uh, you're probably right. Nothing ever happens around here anyway," continues Rick.

The neighborhood is one of the newer, trendier, luxuriant boroughs of modern decadent Gotham City, a far cry from the Gotham that was under the watchful glare of the Batman who unofficially retired decades ago. However another had risen in his place in recent months and made quite a name for him self though he hardly had the reputation yet to rival his namesake in the mind of this observer. It would be interesting to say the least to do a mind job on the new Batman at an early stage of the vigilante's 'career'.

Chelsea and Rick kiss – another typical teenage ritual – it dates back to the last century though before that the rituals were different – every generation likes to invent its own twist to the way things were done by people their age in the past - adolescent rebellion or self-expression. Either way the observer didn't care, he just interprets what he sees as he prepares to test his technology on an unwitting subject that happens to be Chelsea Cunningham – a spoiled brat in his opinion.

* * *

She would be the trial run for the latest modifications and her mind is fresh from time spent with her latest boyfriend though he could expect little else of her after spending all that time listening to her prattle on about popularity. He closes in on her as she starts on her way home.

"Don't be afraid – I don't bite," he assures her.

Her attention is immediately drawn to the eye ball shaped orb in his hand and then it happens just as he thought it would, she continues home.

"What is that?" she asks.

"An adventure," he replies.

Her body enters her house yet her mind swathes its way through a jungle scene reminiscent of one of those 20th Century adventure films, but of course he went to lengths to base the illusions on dreams and fears of his subjects. She passes her father who is more mindful of the papers in his hands than the fact that his daughter is entering his den and barely catches sight of her making off with a statuette that is worth a considerable sum. He races outside to see her dropping into the cove within walking distance of the front steps to their house.

"Chelsea, what are you doing?" shouts Mr. Cunningham.

Chelsea starts to come out of the state though clearly the amnesia effect of the exposure is doing its work so she'll only retain memory to the time prior to the illusion.

"Dad?" mumbles Chelsea.

"What's wrong with you? That was Foley original – cost me 80 grand," groans Mr. Cunningham.

"What happen? What did I do?" asks Chelsea defensively.

"Don't play games with me young lady," snaps Cunningham.

She could describe him though it is unlikely that she's going to be believed at all. He holds the statuette while listening to the Cunninghams trade words for a few minutes. Mr. Cunningham goes on about how much the lost statuette is worth and Chelsea has little more to defend herself than something that happen on the way home from Rick's. She like the boy who cries wolf has done this sort of thing too often to be believed and even so Cunningham had resources to investigate the validity of his daughter's claims.

* * *

The next morning he is back to what he considers to be the mediocrity of his life – being a high school counselor at Hamilton High – named after one of the most inept mayors in Gotham City history in his opinion, but the man was liked enough to be reelected a few times. He could hear Terry McGinnis talking to his friend out in the hall – about the friend's mother getting married again. At the least boy seem to have his priorities straight unlike others he dealt with around here and as for McGinnis – that one had more direction to him after his father was murdered as a part of corporate cover up exposed by the new Batman.

"You don't seem very excited. Your mom's wedding?" says Terry.

Terry is definitely more upbeat and definitely more responsible though not all of his less than liked qualities had left him – all that could be said is the boy is trying to push forward despite what he had done in the past – plus he seems to be trying to extol positives.

"Big bash – lots of food and then you get the house to yourself for three weeks."

There is an almost envy in Terry's words unless he reads too deeply into though as a counselor he is paid to help students even the helpless ones – which he already had his fill of in his mind.

"Whatever."

The other boy is quite indifferent – as the boy's counselor he knows why – lack of a constant father figure had made the boy practically raise himself in many areas.

"You don't like the guy?" queries Terry.

"My mom goes through husbands like popcorn. I don't bother to get attached."

"Yikes."

On the one hand, McGinnis is painfully aware that he wasted his chance to be on better with his own father so whenever his friends or his girlfriend face parental difficulties he in a minor way is pushing them to make use of all the time they have with said parent. As oppose to distancing themselves because parental mortality is something all must face at some point, but some delude themselves thinking it won't happen until they are much older than Terry is now. After all Terry had a history of arguing with both parents though especially with his father so what difference would one argument make – it made all the difference in the world for Terry McGinnis.

He'll always believe he could have done that night differently yet nobody can change the past no matter how much they would like to do so – as a result McGinnis lives daily with the consequences of that night.

At the same time until anyone close to him ever loses someone in such a way they'll never understand the depth of his concern for how lives are so fragile in the way that they interconnect and how it feels when the connections are fully broken.

He expects a consultation visit from the police and already had an explanation for Chelsea's behavior.

"What's that about?" Terry wonders.

"It's gotta be Chels."

Someone is knocking at his office door – he had been expecting them for hours.

"You didn't hear about her zoning out on her old man last night?"

He already knows the rest of the story so he turns his attention towards his office door.

However the only surprise is Commissioner Gordon herself makes an appearance though she buys his explanation of Chelsea's behavior as symptomatic of an adolescent committing various acts for paternal attention.

McGinnis is eavesdropping on them – if he suspects then Gordon suspects it too – she is a cop after all – on the force a lot longer than this rookie who had come with her.

"We wouldn't even look into this mysterious man story, but the girl's father has influence and he asked that we check it out."

It looks as if the likes of Cunningham and the other elites still have too much pull with the GCPD.

"I wanted your opinion first."

There is an unexpected elation in having his opinion matter to the Commissioner even though he is the man she is looking for – not that he'd be stupid enough to tell her this.

"To be frank, this is Chelsea's pattern. She commits these destructive acts for attention…"

He slides back in his chair to look Gordon in the eye to be sure she believes what he is saying and that he appears that he believes more than she does because that's the only way he could pull one over on the older policewoman.

"Then claims they weren't her fault."

He separates his hands to maintain his emphatic and eccentric gestures.

"Unfortunately by humoring her stories, her father encourages her behavior."

Gordon stands up from the chair and looks ready to leave him to the dullness that is this office with the belief that she got a professional explanation to a wild goose chase.

"In other words, she made the whole thing up."

"That would be my opinion."

He starts to stand up as he offers an apology for having 'wasted' the Commissioner's time today. They shake hands, she leaves, and McGinnis would have to find some way to duck explaining his presence in the corridor to Gordon undoubtedly. Now he would consider his next session for tonight.

He already had someone in mind by the time he left his office, but then working as a high school counselor was not where he thought he find himself after applying his talents through his years at medical school.

* * *

As Spellbinder he is free to be using others to commit crimes. It is about to pay off even more as his next target is an auction house manager named Elias Deakins who had recently come into the possession of the late Queen Audrey's wardrobe, specifically her dress collection.

Deakins' daughter is the one who had told him all about her father's profession and the valuables that pass through his auction house.

Chelsea is an attention seeker whereas Deakins is an obsessive compulsive, but like before he need only apply the 'eye' to make Deakins do the footwork. Deakins believes he is in the middle of a battle zone and that the auction house is now instead a jungle. Enemy troops have him and his fellow soldiers outnumbered yet Deakins ever the obsessive preserver attacks the enemy with vigor uncommon to his physical age as well as his usual behavior.

One guard is downed by several well aimed blows from Deakins and the other clutches his face in pain from being hit square in the face. The GCPD make the scene quickly because one of the two guards with Deakins is still conscious. It would complicate things though this could still go off without a hitch.

Deakins believes he is taking 'Louie' to a rescue copter, which is actually something else.

It is a hovercraft that this mind-bender is using for transportation. Deakins places one of Audrey's most expensive dresses on the hovercraft.

"What the heck are you?" Batman shouts.

It appears as if this situation had gotten the new Batman's attention besides already having the GCPD scouring the building in search of Deakins.

"Behind you!" says Spellbinder to Deakins.

Deakins is quick to turnabout thinking an enemy soldier is closing in on him and preventing the airlift of 'Louie.' Spellbinder tosses a gun to Deakins.

"I'll hold them off as long as I can," shouts Deakins.

Batman disarms Deakins by knocking the gun out of his hands with a self-guiding batarang. He tries to close in on him again and Deakins tackles him before trying to strangle him.

"I don't want to hurt you."

He throws Deakins towards a nearby wall though the toss is not enough to hurt the man.

"What's going on?" asks Deakins groggily.

"You tell me," instructs Batman flatly.

Deakins looks zoned out – like he had no idea what just happen and only that the Batman he read about is now looking down at him as if he had done something wrong.

"Who was your partner in the spooky getup?" demands Batman sharply.

Deakins puts his hand over his chest as if feeling exhausted by something he can't recall in the least.

"I have no idea."

He had gotten even with the new Batman on the scene - the elation on his part is unexpected, but welcomed whereas confusion and frustration belong to those who were foiled in their attempt to stop him including the Batman.

* * *

"_**This is the second report of a 'Spellbinder' hypnotizing citizens. The police have reopened the case involving Chelsea Cunningham."**_

So much for going completely unnoticed – though there is the added thrill of eluding the cops and more importantly confusing a Batman – now onto a third target – though who to do it to this time around. The next news item deals with the upcoming wedding of Jim Tate – the one marrying Jared's mother. He would wreak havoc for Lorraine Tate by showing just how clueless she is to her son's misgivings about her inability to cope without disposable husbands.

* * *

"Ladies and Gentleman – I give you your hosts for the evening – Mr. and Mrs. Jim Tate."

It is a resplendent yet gaudy party typical of Lorraine so who is to say how long this marriage would last and it is definite that Jared resents his mother regularly jumping from one man to another throughout the years so far. It would be sensible to end this farce of a marriage before it begins if only to spare Jared another round of well so much for that husband who is not really going to be a father to me.

"Hear, Hear," toasts Jared.

_What could possibly make the boy happy about this now?_

"I thought you were against this wedding," comments Terry.

_So whose side are either of you boys really on?_

"I was until my new step-dad bought me a new car."

"Those rocks from the groom too?"

Spellbinder takes notice of Terry's observation about Lorraine's wedding gift of jewels. Time for a third steal to get underway courtesy of Lorraine Tate by way of her insect phobia.

"Guy must be loaded."

"Way to go Mom."

_Just when you think you had somebody pegged they switch – so like teenagers – all the same I'm still taking the 'rocks' as the side shifting Terry McGinnis called them._

All everyone sees next is Lorraine Tate throwing the bouquet at Jim and running away from the crowd because she thinks herself now stuck in some freakish bug hive – so much more than second thoughts.

Spellbinder slips back and realizes that Terry had seen him. It is too much of a coincidence that McGinnis overheard his chat with Gordon and happen to see him now – no bother he could still make use of McGinnis because of who he works – now that would be the heist to remember for years. He races down the stairs figuring McGinnis will follow as far as he can, but there's no way for the boy to catch him.

Jim and Jared continue to try to catch Lorraine before she does harm to herself at worst.

Spellbinder moves to intercept Lorraine on her attempt to jump off the cross bridge above the monorail overpass that runs beneath it. Batman beats him to her yet she tears away at her gown attempting to break free from she perceives to be a giant flying bug looking to devour her. Spellbinder smashes into Batman separating the Tomorrow Knight from another broken mind that will pay him back for years wasted on the families they couldn't fix on their own.

She falls to the overpass tracks then tears off the necklace and the earrings only to spot the 'enormous' crawler coming towards – its actually the scheduled monorail passing through this section of Gotham. Lorraine runs the other way still terrified. Batman instead of continuing on Spellbinder for the moment goes after her to get her out of the way.

She pummels him while Spellbinder goes to gather his 'reward' after the monorail passes except now the Batman is giving chase. He lands on the hovercraft and smashes the top part of the backside. It is not beyond fixing so long as he can escape this 'hero' before he can disable the vehicle.

He aims the Eye-Palm at Batman's cowl lenses then Batman dives off only somehow he comes to his senses only seconds before he could have become road kill – either the new Batman had similar mental resilience to the old one or maybe something else. Either way he could deceive this one temporarily, which is enough for now unless he gets better at breaking it off before Spellbinder is ready to cease playing with him.

Whatever happens from now on – soon the Batman would have to die because otherwise he could not continue to borrow from the hapless for their stupid issues and paltry compensations.

As to his next victim – it would be the one who saw him at the Tates' Wedding – Terry McGinnis.

* * *

The next day at his office – Terry McGinnis – exceedingly punctual arrives at his doorway on time. His behavior according to the rest of the faculty is quite the turnaround from the two and half years before his father's murder. It is an odd turn for a wake-up call though it is the perfect cover to lure McGinnis here under false pretenses just as he had done with Carrie and Jared weeks earlier.

"You wanted to see me?" Terry comments.

"Mr. McGinnis, come in," advises Billings.

Terry doesn't move from the doorway – so how to put him at ease – make him cross the threshold.

"No big deal – I know the past few months have been rough, with your father passing and moving back in with your mom. I wanted to see how you were doing," Billings assures Terry.

Terry turns to go after responding that he is fine.

"I don't bite Terry – have a seat."

His smile appears to convince Terry to come inside and talk about the past few months. Billings or rather Spellbinder recalls the last person he said I don't bite, which happens to be ditsy Chelsea.

"I hear you're working part-time for an actual billionaire – must be exciting – tell me all about it."

* * *

Spellbinder sent Terry to 'borrow' from Bruce Wayne and waits for him just outside the manor grounds. It would be child's play given Wayne's age and McGinnis' youth. The hovercraft rocks for a moment and Batman is back for round two.

"Expecting someone?" Batman cracks.

He mentally commands the craft to swerve hard throwing Batman at the gates in front of the pathway to the manor. The throw works, but Batman's self-guiding batarang damages the hovercraft. Spellbinder is thrown from it into the nearby woods while it crashes then explodes off in the distance. He runs off into the thicket of oaks while Batman gives chases on foot.

"It's over Billings – I know who you are," Batman warns.

If only for the moment, Batman can't see him.

"I'm glad that makes you feel superior, but you haven't caught me yet," Spellbinder rebukes.

Batman starts scanning for him, but that will take time, time enough to flash him with the Eye-Palm.

"I don't get you Doctor. You're supposed to be helping kids. How could you take advantage of them?"

Spellbinder moves above Batman figuring a verbal mind game might give him the opening to elude and escape Batman.

"Ah, you wanna be my therapist?" chuckles Spellbinder.

He is behind Batman so as he turns to follow the sound of Spellbinder's voice – he gets a flash of the Eye.

"Then get to know me."

Spellbinder is still close by except Batman can't 'see' him. Batman is soon to get another dose of Spellbinder's 'therapy' as to face the Batman with one of his many fears, which had to include death presumably or maybe failing to protect others that he believes he is meant to protect from harm.

"Nothing – He got me again, I think but I think I am fine," Batman assures.

He is talking to someone who isn't there and not part of the illusion. So this new Batman is not solo like his predecessor is often shown to be except when he had young partners and that means if the old one still lives then this one is not a partner. This new Batman is the old one's protégé – well he'll just have to break in another by the time Spellbinder is done with him thinks Billings to himself.

Batman taps something on his cowl – perhaps that is how he broke out of the mind warp the other day because the old one – the voice that talks to him had told him something to snap him out of it. Spellbinder had to prevent that from happening again if only to ensure this Batman's downfall.

"Everything looks normal."

It won't 'look' normal for much longer. He thinks he is under attack by the undead – by supernatural creatures – like the mental incarnations of Billings' patients' 'issues'.

"For years I have fought the demons in the heads of those ungrateful little snots while their coddling parents paid their garbage men more than me," fumes Spellbinder.

Batman cowers to his knees – so much for the mental stamina that's to be expected of someone taking up the legacy of the legendary and supposedly fearless Batman that was once the watchmen of Gotham.

"Now I'm only taking what I've earned!" Spellbinder claims.

He punches the backside of Batman's cowl knocking him into the dirt. His face hits the ground hard and he is unmoving – so just a little more and this one would cease to be a problem – some patients can't be 'saved' – some die from the inability to cope with their mental issues.

Batman struggles to regain his footing – well maybe – it'll take more than just a backhand punch – Spellbinder didn't want an easy kill so he hefts a fallen branch to crack the Batman's skull with yet even that only causes Batman to stagger in reaction to the blow.

"That sure felt real," Batman groans.

It could only mean the voice is trying to get him to see pass the mind warp – Spellbinder had to end this before Batman breaks the illusion that is helping Spellbinder kill the frustrating pest.

He goes to swing again except Batman on one knee raises both his arms into the path of the blow. Batman disarms him then sends him flying backwards. Spellbinder grabs a sizable rock and throws it at Batman. It does nothing to slow his movement – the illusion is gone so Spellbinder runs knowing Batman is on his tail – for the first time since this experiment of had begun – he is now afraid of being caught especially by the Batman.

This must be how others felt in recent months and decades before when facing the first Batman. The first one stood up to the likes of the Joker, Two-Face, Mister Freeze, Clayface, Bane, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and even the demented psychiatrist that inspired Billings' mind warping Eye-Palm.

The late Doctor Jonathan Crane aka the Scarecrow who had utilized all manner of fears, phobias, psychoses, and every other possible mental condition to wage his battles with Batman as well as the Dark Knight's allies – all for naught. It appears like Scarecrow he had underestimated a Batman's mental stamina. The first Batman outlasted virtually all his enemies.

Some died in battle with Batman and others simply wasted away in the past several decades. As for the rest, Billings did not know because those who did not die long ago or recently had simply gone into obscurity never to be heard from again.

Together the two of them stand beneath the moonlight and Spellbinder feigns defeat so that he might ensnare the Batman with the power of the Eye Palm a third time. Only this Spellbinder is an illusion, which Batman realizes in the nick of time. He stops short of falling off into the watery shoals below.

The real Spellbinder fumes from elsewhere and sneaks up carrying an even larger rock to crack Batman's cowl. He intends to knock him out and watch him drop into the water before drowning. A twig snaps when he steps on it and in a single swift motion he feels himself being pulled upward by Batman. He had been behind him, nearly silent, and the misstep of cracking that twig undid this attack. He couldn't believe how fast the Batman found him this time.

The Eye Palm shorts out in Batman's grip and Batman yanks off his mask revealing the stunned face of Ira Billings. Batman left him tied up knowing the police would handle the rest and disappears from sight.

* * *

The GCPD arrive not long after. Billings' career as a high school counselor is over and his medical license is being revoked due to criminal charges of coercing several patients to commit criminal activities against their will.

Billings notices McGinnis, Wayne, and Commissioner Gordon chatting presumably about how Batman finally took him down – he'd get even someday with that agile Tomorrow Knight – one way or another – both Terry and Batman would pay for this turn of events.

As for the old Mr. Wayne, he is a lesser concern except when it comes to the Batman.

He might not be a doctor anymore, but like his indirect predecessor he still knows how to play mind games with his adversaries and targets. This new Batman is sure to have personal weaknesses of some kind and Ira already knows a few soft spots for McGinnis including those who are dear to his heart.

_She would be perfect bait for McGinnis though would the same work for Batman? _

As the police cruiser departs he begins his revenge plotting for the future.?

_I have plenty of time to think on it with no more impudent snots to trouble me.

* * *

_A/N 1: Set during the episode Spellbound - Batman's newest rogue is a lot closer than he realizes and Terry starts to show more detective qualities as he searches for the truth behind the strange behavior in others caused by this Spellbinder until he himself becomes a victim.

A/N 2: Ultimately it is a combination of his own abilities and Bruce's mental prodding that saves Terry's life thus enabling him to defeat Billings as Spellbinder.

A/N 3: A slight modification to the episode is that Audrey is now a Queen instead of a Princess - it also supposed that she is Audrey of Kaznia as seen in JL Maid of Honor - I'm inclined to agree if only to throw another minor nod to the relationship between Bruce and Diana during JL and JLU.

A/N 4: Like previous chapters its character oriented perspective in this case - the perspective of Ira Billings and Spellbinder. Towards the end he ponders the history of the first Batman and that Batman's Rogues gallery as well as plots his eventual retaliation against Batman and Terry.

A/N 5: Its only recently that I have read of the Beyond Era Batman being referred to as the Tomorrow Knight so I slipped that in there too.


End file.
